Today's Reading

¹Then Job answered the Lord,

²"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.

³You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' therefore I have uttered that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

⁴You said, 'Listen, now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you will answer me.'

⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.

⁶Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

⁷It was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.

⁸Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has."

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did what the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job.

¹⁰The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.

¹¹Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that the Lord had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.

¹²So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.

¹³He had also seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch.

¹⁵In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

¹⁶After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, to four generations.

¹⁷So Job died, being old and full of days.

¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:

²"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

³What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

⁴One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.

⁵The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises.

⁶The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses.

⁷All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.

⁸All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

⁹That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

¹⁰Is there a thing of which it may be said, "Behold, this is new?" It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

¹¹There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.

¹²I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹⁵That which is crooked can't be made straight; and that which is lacking can't be counted.

¹⁶I said to myself, "Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."

¹⁷I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

¹⁸For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

¹I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;" and behold, this also was vanity.

²I said of laughter, "It is foolishness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"

³I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.

⁴I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.

⁵I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.

⁶I made myself pools of water, to water from it the forest where trees were reared.

⁷I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem;

⁸I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men-musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

⁹So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.

¹⁰Whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.

¹¹Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

¹²I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king's successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.

¹⁴The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness-and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

¹⁵Then said I in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?" Then said I in my heart that this also is vanity.

¹⁶For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹⁸I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

¹⁹Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

²⁰Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

²¹For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

²²For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

²³For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

²⁵For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

²⁶For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me.

²For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

³But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁴For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not proclaim, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different "good news", which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough.

⁵For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.

⁶Even though I am unskilled in speech, I am not unskilled in knowledge. But in every way we have made this known to you in all things.

⁷Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God's Good News free of charge?

⁸I robbed other churches, taking wages from them that I might serve you.

⁹When I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows.

¹²But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we.

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ's apostles.

¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.

¹⁵It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

¹⁶I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little.

¹⁷That which I speak, I do not speak according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast.

¹⁹For you bear with the foolish gladly, being wise.

²⁰For you bear with a man, if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, if he strikes you on the face.

²¹I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet however any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.

²³Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.

²⁴Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.

²⁶I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;

²⁷in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.

²⁸Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily, anxiety for all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forevermore, knows that I do not lie.

³²In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes to arrest me.

³³Through a window I was let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:

²that you may maintain discretion, that your lips may preserve knowledge.

³For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil,

⁴But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, and as sharp as a two-edged sword.

⁵Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol.

⁶She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it.

⁷Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Do not depart from the words of my mouth.

⁸Remove your way far from her. Do not come near the door of her house,

⁹lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;

¹⁰lest strangers feast on your wealth, and your labors enrich another man's house.

¹¹You will groan at your latter end, when your flesh and your body are consumed,

¹²and say, "How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

¹³neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!

¹⁴I have come to the brink of utter ruin, in the midst of the gathered assembly."

¹⁵Drink water out of your own cistern, running water out of your own well.

¹⁶Should your springs overflow in the streets, streams of water in the public squares?

¹⁷Let them be for yourself alone, not for strangers with you.

¹⁸Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

¹⁹A loving doe and a graceful deer- let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be captivated always with her love.

²⁰For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another?

²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord. He examines all his paths.

²²The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.

²³He will die for lack of instruction. In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.