Ecclesiastes 8:1-10:10
1 Who knows the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
And a man shameless in face will be hated.
Obey Those Who Rule
2 Keep the king’s commandment and spare no effort for the sake of your oath to God. 3 You will go out from his presence, but do not stand with an evil thing, for the king will do whatever he pleases.
4 Insofar as a king has authority, he speaks,
And who will say to him,
“Why will you do this?”
5 He who keeps his commandment will not know an evil thing,
And a wise man’s heart knows the time of judgment.
6 For to every matter there is a time and a judgment,
Because the knowledge of a man lies heavily upon him.
7 For there is no one who knows what is going to be;
For who will tell him how it shall be?
8 No one has the authority over his spirit to withhold his spirit,
And no one has authority in the day of his death.
There is no discharge in that war,
And ungodliness will not save those given to it.
9 I saw all this and gave my heart to every work done under the sun wherein one man has authority over another man to injure him.
Death Visits All
10 Then I saw the ungodly buried in their tombs and brought from their holy place and praised in the city for what they had done. But this also is vanity. 11 For no controversy comes quickly against those who do evil; therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully determined within them to do evil. 12 Whoever sins does evil from that time on and for a long time afterwards; nevertheless, I know that it shall be well for those who fear God so long as they have fear before Him. 13 But it shall not be well with the ungodly man; he will not prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not have fear before God.
14 There is a vanity that is done on earth: there are the righteous as when the work of the ungodly overtakes them, and there are the ungodly as when the work of the righteous overtakes them. I said that this also is vanity. 15 So I praised merriment, because a man has nothing better to do under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will be present with him in his labor all the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
16 For this reason I committed my heart to know wisdom and to see the distractions done on earth; nevertheless, he receives no sleep, day or night. 17 Then I saw all the works of God, that a man cannot discover how He does His work under the sun. No matter how much a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it out. And no matter how much a wise man may speak of knowing it, he will not be able to find it out.
1 For I gave my heart to all this, and my heart saw all this, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. Whether it be love or hatred, man does not know it, although all things are before him.
2 Vanity is in all things:
One event happens to the righteous man and the ungodly man,
To the good man and the evil man,
To the pure man and the impure man,
To the man who sacrifices and the man who does not sacrifice.
As is the good man, so is the man who sins;
As is he who takes an oath, so is he who fears an oath.
3 There is this evil in everything done under the sun, that one event happens to all. And truly the heart of the sons of men is full of evil; madness is in their heart while they live, and afterwards they go to the dead. 4 For who has fellowship with all the living? There is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know they will die,
But the dead know nothing;
And they have no more reward,
For the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, hatred, and envy have now perished;
And they have no portion forever
In all that is done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with merriment
And drink your wine with a happy heart;
For now God is well pleased with your works.
8 Let your garments be always white,
And let your head lack no oil.
9 Experience life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He gave you under the sun all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life and in the labor you performed under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work or reasoning or knowledge or wisdom in Hades where you are going. 11 I returned and saw under the sun that:
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor wealth to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of knowledge;
For time and chance will happen to them all.
12 For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time
When it falls suddenly upon them.
Wisdom Is Better Than Strength
13 I saw this wisdom under the sun, and it is great to me. 14 There was a little city with a few men in it; and a great king came against it and surrounded it and built great barricades around it. 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and by his wisdom he rescued the city; yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 Then I said:
“Wisdom is better than strength,
But the poor man’s wisdom is despised,
And his words are not heard.
17 The words of the wise are heard in quietness
More than the shouting of those who rule in foolishness.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
But one sinner destroys much goodness.”
1 Dead flies will corrupt the preparation of seasoned olive oil,
And a little wisdom is more valuable
Than the glory of great foolishness.
2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand,
But the heart of a senseless man is at his left.
3 When a senseless man also walks along the way,
His heart will fail him,
And everything he considers is foolishness.
4 If the spirit of the ruler rises against you,
Do not leave your place;
For soothing puts an end to great sins.
5 There is an evil I saw under the sun
When an offense proceeds from a ruler.
6 The senseless man devotes himself to great heights,
And rich men shall sit in a lowly place.
7 I saw servants on horses
And princes walking on the ground like servants.
8 He who digs a pit will fall into it,
And he who pulls down a wall will be bitten by a serpent.
9 He who removes stones will be worn out by them,
And he who cuts down trees will be endangered by them.
10 If the ax head falls off, then his countenance is troubled,
And he will put forth more strength;
And in that case skill is of no advantage to the man.
Psalm 48:11–21
11 Foolish and senseless men die together,
And they leave their wealth to strangers;
12 And their graves will be their homes continually,
Their dwelling places from generation to generation.
They called their lands after their own names.
13 A man being in honor did not understand;
He was compared to the senseless cattle, and became like them.
14 Their road is a snare for them,
Yet afterwards, men will be well pleased with their sayings.
15 Like sheep, they are put in Hades; death will shepherd them;
And the upright shall gain dominion over them in the morning;
And their help shall be made old in Hades away from their glory.
16 Yet God will redeem my soul
From the hand of Hades when He shall receive me.
(Pause)
17 Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich,
And when the glory of his house is increased;
18 For when he dies, he shall carry nothing away;
Neither will his glory descend with him.
19 For his soul shall be blessed in his lifetime;
He will acknowledge You when You do him good.
20 He shall enter the generations of his fathers;
He shall not see light forever.
21 A man being in honor did not understand;
He was compared to the senseless cattle, and became like them.
Proverbs 10:7–11
7 The blessing of the Lord is upon the head of a righteous man,
But untimely grief will cover the mouth of the ungodly.
8 The remembrance of the righteous is with eulogies,
But the name of an ungodly man is extinguished.
9 The wise man in heart will receive the commandments,
But the man unguarded in speech will be overthrown in his perverseness.
10 He who walks in sincerity walks confidently,
But he who perverts his ways will be known.
11 He who winks his eyes deceitfully gathers grief for men,
But he who reproves boldly is a peacemaker.
1 Corinthians 6
1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
4 If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?
5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?
6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?
8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Glorify God in Body and Spirit
12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.