Ecclesiastes 5:7-7:29
7 If you see the oppression of the poor and the violation of judgment and righteousness in the land, do not marvel at the matter; for there is a high official to watch over a high official, and higher ones over them! 8 Moreover, the abundance of the earth is for all: even a king depends on work in the field.
9 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver;
Nor he who loves the harvest, with its abundance.
This also is vanity.
10 In the abundance of good things
They who eat them also increase,
But what virtue does the owner have from them,
Except to see them with his eyes?
11 The sleep of a servant is sweet,
Whether he eats little or much;
But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.
12 There was a sickness I saw under the sun:
Wealth kept for its owner to his hurt.
13 That wealth shall perish in painful distraction,
And he begets a son;
But there is nothing in his hand.
14 As he came from his mother’s womb,
Naked shall he return, to go as he came;
And he shall take nothing from his labor
That it may go with him in his hand.
15 This also is a painful sickness,
For as he came, so shall he go;
And what is his gain, for which he labored for the wind?
16 All his days are in darkness and sorrow
And in much anger, sickness, and gall.
17 Behold, I have seen good: It is a fine thing for a man to experience goodness in all his labor in which he toils all the days of his life that God has given him; for it is his portion. 18 As for every man to whom God has given wealth, possessions, and authority—to eat from it, to receive his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. 19 For he will not remember the many days of his life, because God distracted him in the merriment of his heart.
1 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, and it is abundant among men: 2 A man to whom God shall give wealth, possessions, and glory, so he lacks nothing for his life from all the things he shall desire; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a stranger consumes it. This is vanity and a grievous sickness.
3 If a man begets a hundred children, and he shall live many years—however many the days of his years shall be—yet his soul is not to be filled with goodness, and he also has no burial. I say that a miscarried child is better than he, 4 for it came in futility and departs in darkness; and its name shall be covered with darkness. 5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, it has more rest than that man. 6 Even if he lived a thousand years twice, but has not seen goodness, do not all go to one place?
7 All the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet his soul is not satisfied.
8 For what advantage does the skilled man
Have over the unskilled man,
Since even this poor man knows how to keep himself alive?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes
Than the wandering of the soul.
This also is vanity and is the choice of one’s spirit.
10 If anything has come to be,
Its name has already been used;
And it is known what man is,
That he is unable to dispute with him
Who is stronger than he.
11 Since there are many words that multiply vanity,
What advantage does man have?
12 For who knows what is good for man in his life? For all his days in life, which pass like a shadow, are spent in vanity. Who can tell a man what will happen under the sun after he is gone?
The Value of Wisdom
1 A good name is better than good olive oil,
And the day of one’s death
Than the day of one’s birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of drinking,
For this is the end of every man;
And the living will take it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
But the heart of senseless men is in the house of merriment.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of a wise man
Than for a man to hear the song of senseless men.
6 For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
So is the laughter of senseless men.
This also is vanity.
7 Oppression makes a learned man dizzy
And destroys his vigorous heart.
8 The end of matters is better than their beginning,
And a patient man is better than one haughty in spirit.
9 Do not be hasty in your spirit to be angry,
For anger rests in the bosom of senseless men.
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
And profitable to those who see the sun.
12 For wisdom in its shadow is as the shadow of silver,
But the abundance of the knowledge of wisdom
Will give life to him who has it.
13 Behold the works of God,
For who can put in order him
Whom God made crooked?
14 In the day of what is good, live in that goodness,
But in the day of trouble, consider also
That God made one harmonious with the other,
That a man may not find out anything
That will come after him.
15 I saw everything in my days of vanity:
There is a righteous man
Who perishes in his righteousness,
And there is an ungodly man
Who remains alive in his vice.
16 Do not be overly righteous,
Nor be overly wise,
Lest you be confounded.
17 Do not be very ungodly,
Nor be hardened,
Lest you die before your time.
18 It is good that you lay hold of this
And do not let your hand let go of it:
For the one who fears God, all things will turn out well.
19 Wisdom will help the wise
More than ten rulers in the city.
20 For there is not a righteous man on earth
Who does good and does not sin.
21 Also do not take to heart all the words people say,
Lest you hear your servant cursing you.
22 For very often he will act in an evil manner against you,
And many times he will afflict your heart,
Just as you have cursed others.
23 I proved all this by wisdom.
I said, “I will be wise,”
24 But it was far from me.
As for what is far off and exceedingly deep,
Who will find it out?
25 I and my heart went about to know,
And to search and seek out wisdom
And the account of things,
And to know the foolishness, hardness, and madness
Of the ungodly man.
26 I find more bitter than death
The woman who is a snare and her heart a net;
And her hands are her chains.
A man who is good in the sight of God will escape from her,
But the sinner will be caught by her.
27 “Behold, I found this,” says the Preacher,
“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,
28 Which my soul still seeks, but cannot find:
I found one man among a thousand,
But a woman among all these, I have not found.
29 Except behold, I found this,
That God makes man upright,
But they have sought out many schemes.”
Psalm 48:1–10
1 For the End; a psalm for the sons of Korah.
2 Hear this, all you nations;
Give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
3 Both earthborn and the sons of men,
Rich and poor together.
4 My mouth shall speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart, understanding;
5 I will incline my ear to a parable;
I will open my riddle on the harp.
6 What should I fear in an evil day?
The lawlessness at my heel surrounds me.
7 Those who trusted in their power
And those who boast in the abundance of their wealth,
8 A brother does not redeem; shall a man redeem?
He will not give his ransom to God
9 And the price of his soul’s redemption.
10 And he rested forever, and shall live to the end,
Because he will not see decay when he sees wise men die.
Proverbs 10:1–6
1 A wise son makes his father glad,
But a son without discernment is a grief to his mother.
2 Treasures do not benefit lawless men,
But righteousness delivers from death.
3 The Lord will not let the soul of the righteous man starve,
But He overthrows the life of the ungodly.
4 Poverty humbles a man,
But the hands of courageous men enrich others.
5 A son who is instructed will be wise,
And he will use a man without discernment as a servant.
6 A son with understanding is kept safe from the heat,
But a lawless son is blasted by the wind at harvest time.
1 Corinthians 5
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!
2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Immorality Must Be Judged
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.
10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?
13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”