The Daily Audio Bible
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4 So I returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: And behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter.
2 Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive;
3 yea, better than both of them is he who hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
4 Again, I considered all travail and every right work for which a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
5 The fool foldeth his hands together and eateth his own flesh.
6 Better is a handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of the spirit.
7 Again I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun:
8 There is one who is alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother, yet there is no end to all his labor. Neither is his eye satisfied with riches; nor saith he, “For whom do I labor and bereave my soul of good?” This is also vanity; yea, it is a sore travail.
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie down together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm alone?
12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threestrand cord is not quickly broken.
13 Better is a poor and wise child, than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished.
14 For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.
15 I considered all the living who walk under the sun, with the second child who shall stand up in his stead.
16 There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them; they also who came after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
5 Guard thy feet when thou goest into the house of God; and be more ready to hear than to make the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil.
2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
3 For a dream cometh through a multitude of business, and a fool’s voice is known by a multitude of words.
4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for He hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou hast vowed.
5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
6 Let not thy mouth cause thy flesh to sin, neither say thou before God’s angel that the vow was an error. Why should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities. But fear thou God.
8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there are higher than they.
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the field.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This is also vanity.
11 When goods increase, they are increased who eat them; and what good is there to the owners thereof, except the beholding of them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of the laboring man is sweet whether he eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.
13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely: riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
14 But those riches perish by evil travail; and when he begetteth a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a sore evil: that in all ways as he came, so shall he go. And what profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
18 Behold that which I have seen: It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him; for it is his portion.
19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
6 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:
2 a man to whom God hath given riches, wealth and honor, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not the power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
3 If a man beget a hundred children and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better than he,
4 for he cometh in with vanity and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness;
5 moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing. This one hath more rest than the other:
6 yea, though he live a thousand years twicetold, yet he hath seen no good. Do not all go to one place?
7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
8 For what hath the wise more than the fool? What hath the poor, who knoweth how to walk before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
10 That which hath been is named already, and it is known what man is; neither may he contend with Him that is mightier than he.
11 Seeing there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better?
12 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life being spent as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said: “I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
17 Therefore, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate,” saith the Lord. “And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you,
18 and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters,” saith the Lord Almighty.
7 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Receive us: we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
3 I speak this not to condemn you, for I have said before that ye are in our hearts, to die and live with you.
4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you; great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort; I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
5 For when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side: without were fightings, within were fears.
6 Nevertheless God, who comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
7 and not by his coming only, but also by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more.
47 O clap your hands, all ye people! Shout unto God with the voice of triumph!
2 For the Lord Most High is to be feared; He is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah
5 God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises unto our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with understanding.
8 God reigneth over the heathen; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted.
16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
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