Old/New Testament
10 A few dead flies in a bottle of perfume cause it to have a bad smell.
In the same way, one foolish thing can destroy a lot of wisdom.
2 If you are wise,
you know the right way to go.
But a fool is stupid and he goes the wrong way.
3 Even when fools walk along the road,
they show that they are stupid.
Everyone can see that they are not wise.
4 If your master becomes angry with you,
do not leave your place.
Be patient and answer him quietly.
Then he will forgive your mistakes.
5 I have seen another terrible thing that happens on the earth.
It happens when a ruler does a silly thing.
6 A ruler may give fools too much authority.
At the same time, rich people have no authority.
7 Slaves ride on horses, as important people do.
At the same time, princes have to walk, as slaves do.
8 If you dig a deep hole, you might fall into it.
If you knock down a wall, a snake might bite you.
9 If you cut stones out of the ground, a stone might hurt you.
If you cut wood into pieces, a piece of it might hurt you.
10 If your axe is not sharp,
you will need to be very strong to use it.
If you are wise, you will make the axe's edge sharp again.
That is how wisdom helps you to do things well.
11 Someone may have power over dangerous snakes.
But that will not help him if the snake bites him first.
12 People respect a wise person,
because of the things that he says.
But the words of a fool will destroy him.
13 When a fool starts to speak,
he says silly things.
When he finishes,
he is saying crazy things that are wicked.
14 But he never stops talking.
Nobody knows what will happen in the future.
Nobody can tell us what will happen after we die.
15 When a fool does any work,
he quickly becomes tired.
He is so tired that he forgets the way to town.
16 A country is in terrible trouble
if its ruler is young and foolish.
If its leaders go to parties all day,
a country is in trouble.
17 But if a country's ruler belongs to a good family,
that country will be a happy place.
Its leaders only enjoy parties at the proper time.
They control themselves and they do not become drunk.
18 If a man is too lazy to work on his house,
its roof will fall down.
Rain will make his rooms wet.
19 Good food and wine help us to laugh and to be happy.
But you need to have money to buy everything.
20 Do not say bad things about the king.
Do not even think about it!
Even when you are in your bedroom,
do not say bad things about rich people.
A little bird might hear you.
It might tell people what you have said.
Do what is wise
11 Freely give your things to other people.
If you do that, one day you will receive your things back again.
2 Share your things with several other people.
You do not know when trouble will come.
Then those people can help you.
3 When clouds are full of water,
rain will fall on the earth.
If a tree falls to the ground,
it will stay there, in the same place.
4 A farmer who waits for the right wind
will never plant any seeds.
If he is always looking at the clouds,
he will never bring in his crops.
5 We do not know the path that the wind blows along.
Nor do we know how a baby's body grows
inside a pregnant woman.
So nobody can explain the things that God does.
He is the one who has made everything.
6 Plant your seeds in the morning,
and continue to work until the evening.
You do not know which seeds will become strong plants.
Perhaps only some of them will grow.
Perhaps they will all grow well.
Remember God while you are young
7 Light makes people happy.
It is good to see the sun rise in the morning.
8 People may live for many years,
and they should happily enjoy every day.
But they should remember that their lives will end in death.
There will be many days of trouble ahead.
We cannot understand everything that will happen to us in the future.
9 Young people, enjoy your life while you are young.
Do the things that you think are good.
Enjoy the things that you see.
But remember that God will judge you
for all the things that you do.
10 Do not worry about things.
Do not let your body cause you to have pain.
You will not be young and strong for very long.
We all become old too quickly.
12 Remember to serve God while you are young.
He is the one who made you.
Your life will have many troubles in the future.
During those years, you will say,
‘I do not enjoy my life any more.’
2 When you are old, the light from the sun will not seem to be bright.
You will not see the moon or the stars.
There will always be dark clouds after the rain.
3 Your arms that have kept you safe will shake.
Your legs will become weak.
You will have only a few teeth to eat with.
Your eyes will no longer see very well.
4 Your ears will not hear noises outside in the streets.
You will not hear the sound of people as they work.
You will not hear the sound of people as they sing songs.
But a bird's song will wake you
when you want to sleep.
5 You will be afraid to stand on high places.
You will worry about danger in the streets.
When you are old, your hair will become white,
like the flowers on an almond tree.
You will feel too tired to move yourself,
like an old grasshopper.
You will not want to have sex.
Finally, we will all die and go to our home in the ground.
Many people will weep at our funeral.
6 Remember to serve God while you are young,
because one day your life will finish.
It will be like a silver chain that breaks;
like a gold bowl that breaks;
like a water pot at the well that breaks into pieces;
like a rope at the well that breaks apart.[a]
7 Our bodies go back into the ground as dust.
The breath of our life goes back to God,
who gave it to us.[b]
8 So I, the Teacher, say,
‘All these things have no purpose.
We cannot understand why they happen.’
About the Teacher
9 The Teacher was wise man. He also taught the people to understand things. He studied many proverbs and he wrote them down carefully. 10 The Teacher tried to find the right words, so that he could show the true meaning of what he wrote. 11 The words of wise people are like sharp sticks that a farmer uses to move his animals along. Their messages are like strong nails in a piece of wood. It is God, our one Shepherd, who gives these messages to us.
A final message
12 My son, I warn you to be careful about any other teaching. There will always be more and more books to read. If you try to study everything, you will be very weak and tired.
13 Now I have heard everything and this is what I have decided: Respect God and obey his commands. That is God's purpose for all people. 14 Remember that God will judge everything that we do, to see if it is good or it is bad. He knows even the things that we do secretly.
Paul says ‘hello’
1 This letter is from me, Paul. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. It is not any group of people or any one person that has given that authority to me. It is Jesus Christ himself who has chosen me to serve him. And God our Father, who raised Jesus to become alive again after his death, has also sent me. 2 All the believers who are here say ‘hello’ to you. We all send this letter to you.
I am writing to you, the people of the churches that are in Galatia.
3 I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your minds. 4 Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice because of all the wrong things that we have done. He did that to save us from all the bad things of this world in which we live now. This is what God, our Father, wanted him to do. 5 God is great and we should praise him for ever. Amen. This is true.
The true message of good news
6 I am very surprised that you are turning away so soon from God. He is the one who chose you to come to him. He did that because Christ is very kind to you. But now you want to accept a different message which some people call good news. 7 But really, there is no other message from God which is good news. Some people are confusing you. They are trying to change the good news about Christ and make it something different. 8 Nobody should ever teach a message that is different from the good news that we taught you. Neither we ourselves, nor even an angel from heaven, should ever teach a different message. If anyone does that, I pray that God would curse him. 9 We have already said this, but now I will say it again. Do not accept any message that is different from the message that we taught you. If anyone teaches a different message, I pray that God will curse him very strongly.
10 When I say these things, I am not trying to please people. No, it is God that I want to please. If I only wanted to make people happy, then I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul's message is from God
11 The good news that I tell people did not come from any person on earth. I want you to know that, my friends. 12 Nobody on earth gave it to me. Nobody taught it to me. No, it was Jesus Christ himself who showed it to me clearly.
13 You know about the things that I did before, when I obeyed the Jewish rules. I caused very much trouble against God's church. I tried to destroy those people completely. 14 I obeyed the Jewish rules better than many other Jews who were my friends. I tried very much to obey the ideas that our Jewish ancestors taught. 15 But God had chosen me to serve him even before I was born. He chose me to be his servant because he is very kind. 16 He decided to show his Son clearly to me, so that I could tell the Gentiles about him.[a] When God chose me to do that, I did not talk about it with any person. 17 Nor did I go to Jerusalem to see Christ's apostles there. Those men were already his apostles before I was. But I did not go to talk to them. Instead, I went immediately to the region of Arabia.[b] Later, I went back to the city of Damascus.
18 Then, three years later, I did go to Jerusalem. I stayed there with Christ's apostle Peter for 15 days, so that he could teach me. 19 I did not see any other apostles, except James, who is the Lord's brother. 20 God knows that what I am writing to you is completely true! 21 Later, I went to different places in Syria and Cilicia.[c] 22 The Christians in the churches in Judea had never met me.[d] 23 They had only heard people say this about me: ‘This man caused bad trouble against us Christians before. He tried to destroy God's message about Jesus. But now he himself is telling people the good news about Jesus, so that they believe.’ 24 When the believers in Judea heard that, they praised God because of me.
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