Ecclesiastes 10; Ecclesiastes 11; Ecclesiastes 12; Galatians 1

1 As dead flies spoil the perfumer's oil, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

2 The mind of the wise tends toward the right, but the mind of the fool toward the left.

3 Fools lack all sense even when they walk down the street; they show everyone that they are fools.

4 If a ruler's temper rises against you, don't leave your post, because calmness alleviates great offenses.

5 There's an evil that I have seen under the sun: the kind of mistake that comes from people in power.

6 Fools are appointed to high posts, while the rich sit in lowly positions.

7 I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes walk on foot like slaves.

8 Whoever digs a pit may fall into it, and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

9 Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

10 If an ax is dull and one doesn't sharpen it first, then one must exert more force. It's profitable to be skillful and wise.

11 If a snake bites before it's charmed, then there's no profit for the snake charmer.

12 Words from a wise person's mouth are beneficial, but fools are devoured by their own lips.

13 Fools start out talking foolishness and end up speaking awful nonsense.

14 Fools talk too much! No one knows what will happen; no one can say what will happen in the future.

15 The hard work of fools tires them out because they don't even know the way to town!

16 Too bad for you, land, whose king is a boy and whose princes feast in the morning.

17 Happy is the land whose king is dignified and whose princes feast at the right time for energy, not for drunkenness.

18 Through laziness, the roof sags; through idle hands, the house leaks.

19 Feasts are made for laughter, wine cheers the living, and money answers everything.

20 Don't curse a king even in private; don't curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird could carry your voice; some winged creature could report what you said!

1 Send your bread out on the water because, in the course of time, you may find it again.

2 Give a portion to seven people, even to eight: you don't know what disaster may come upon the land.

3 If clouds fill up, they will empty out rain on the earth. If a tree falls, whether to the south or to the north, wherever it falls, there it will lie.

4 Those who watch the wind blow will never sow, and those who observe the clouds will never reap.

5 Just as you don't understand what the life-breath does in the fetus inside a pregnant woman's womb, so you can't understand the work of God, who makes everything happen.

6 Scatter your seed in the morning, and in the evening don't be idle because you don't know which will succeed, this one or that, or whether both will be equally good.

7 Sweet is the light, and it's pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

8 Even those who live many years should take pleasure in them all. But they should be mindful that there will also be many dark days. Everything that happens is pointless.

9 Rejoice, young person, while you are young! Your heart should make you happy in your prime. Follow your heart's inclinations and whatever your eyes see, but know this: God will call you to account for all of these things.

10 Remove anxiety from your heart, banish pain from your body, because youth and the dawn of life are pointless too.

1 Remember your creator in your prime, before the days of trouble arrive, and those years, about which you'll say, "I take no pleasure in these"—

2 before the sun and the light grow dark, the moon and the stars too, before the clouds return after the rain;

3 on the day when the housekeepers tremble and the strong men stoop; when the women who grind stop working because they're so few, and those who look through the windows grow dim;

4 when the doors to the street are shut, when the sound of the mill fades, the sound of the bird rises, and all the singers come down low;

5 when people are afraid of things above and of terrors along the way; when the almond tree blanches, the locust droops, and the caper-berry comes to nothing; when the human goes to the eternal abode, with mourners all around in the street;

6 before the silver cord snaps and the gold bowl shatters; the jar is broken at the spring and the wheel is crushed at the pit;

7 before dust returns to the earth as it was before and the life-breath returns to God who gave it.

8 Perfectly pointless, says the Teacher, everything is pointless.

9 Additionally: Because the Teacher was wise, he constantly taught the people knowledge. He listened and investigated. He composed many proverbs.

10 The Teacher searched for pleasing words, and he wrote truthful words honestly.

11 The words of the wise are like iron-tipped prods; the collected sayings of the masters are like nails fixed firmly by a shepherd.

12 Be careful, my child, of anything beyond them! There's no end to the excessive production of scrolls. Studying too much wearies the body.

13 So this is the end of the matter; all has been heard. Worship God and keep God's commandments because this is what everyone must do.

14 God will definitely bring every deed to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or bad.

1 From Paul, an apostle who is not sent from human authority or commissioned through human agency, but sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead;

2 and from all the brothers and sisters with me. To the churches in Galatia.

3 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 He gave himself for our sins, so he could deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

5 To God be the glory forever and always! Amen.

6 I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ to follow another gospel.

7 It's not really another gospel, but certain people are confusing you and they want to change the gospel of Christ.

8 However, even if we ourselves or a heavenly angel should ever preach anything different from what we preached to you, they should be under a curse.

9 I'm repeating what we've said before: if anyone preaches something different from what you received, they should be under a curse!

10 Am I trying to win over human beings or God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I wouldn't be Christ's slave.

11 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that the gospel I preached isn't human in origin.

12 I didn't receive it or learn it from a human. It came through a revelation from Jesus Christ.

13 You heard about my previous life in Judaism, how severely I harassed God's church and tried to destroy it.

14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my peers, because I was much more militant about the traditions of my ancestors.

15 But God had set me apart from birth and called me through his grace. He was pleased

16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach about him to the Gentiles. I didn't immediately consult with any human being.

17 I didn't go up to Jerusalem to see the men who were apostles before me either, but I went away into Arabia and I returned again to Damascus.

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.

19 But I didn't see any other of the apostles except James the brother of the Lord.

20 Before God, I'm not lying about the things that I'm writing to you!

21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,

22 but I wasn't known personally by the Christian churches in Judea.

23 They only heard a report about me: "The man who used to harass us now preaches the faith that he once tried to destroy."

24 So they were glorifying God because of me.