the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
November 15 - Different Topics
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Ecclesiastes 7-8
Chapter 7
Wise Sayings
1 A good name is better than fine perfume,(a)
and the day of one's death than the day of one's birth.(b)
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
since that is the end of all mankind,
and the living should take it to heart.(c)
3 Grief is better than laughter,
for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.(d)
4 The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.
5 It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools,(e)
6 for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot,(f)
so is the laughter of the fool.
This too is futile.
7 Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool,(g)
and a bribe destroys the mind.(h)
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.(i)
9 Don't let your spirit rush to be angry,
for anger abides in the heart of fools.(j)
10 Don't say, "Why were the former days better than these?"(k)
since it is not wise of you to ask this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
and an advantage to those who see the sun,
12 because wisdom is protection as money is protection,
and the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.(l)
13 Consider the work of God,(m)
for who can straighten out
what He has made crooked?(n)
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful,(o) but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other,(p) so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.
Avoiding Extremes
15 In my futile life[a] I have seen everything:(q) there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness,(r) and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil.(s) 16 Don't be excessively righteous, and don't be overly wise.(t) Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Don't be excessively wicked, and don't be foolish. Why should you die before your time?(u) 18 It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.
19 Wisdom makes the wise man stronger
than ten rulers of a city.(v)
20 There is certainly no righteous man on the earth
who does good and never sins.(w)
21 Don't pay attention[b] to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you,(x) 22 for you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.
What the Teacher Found
23 I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, "I will be wise," but it was beyond me. 24 What exists is beyond reach and very deep.(y) Who can discover it? 25 I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom(z) and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death(aa) the woman who is a trap,(ab) her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27 "Look," says the Teacher, "I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28 which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman.(ac) 29 Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright,(ad) but they pursued many schemes."
Chapter 8
Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities
1 Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man's wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.(a)
2 Keep[a] the king's command because of your oath made before God.(b) 3 Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence,(c) and don't persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. 4 For the king's word is authoritative, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?"(d) 5 The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful,(e) and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. 6 For every activity there is a right time and procedure,(f) even though man's troubles are heavy on him. 7 Yet no one knows what will happen(g) because who can tell him what will happen? 8 No one has authority over the wind[b] to restrain it,(h) and there is no authority over the day of death;(i) there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. 9 All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.
10 In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place,(j) and they were praised[c] in the city where they did so. This too is futile. 11 Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly,(k) the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. 12 Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life,(l) yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people,(m) for they are reverent before Him. 13 However, it will not go well with the wicked,(n) and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow,(o) for they are not reverent before God.
14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve,(p) and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve.(q) I say that this too is futile. 15 So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself,(r) for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom(s) and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night), 17 I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it;(t) even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.
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