Psalm chapter 45

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves. My heart is gushing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

You are fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into your lips: therefore God has blessed you for ever.

Gird your sword on your thigh, O most mighty, with your glory and your majesty.

And in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and your right hand shall teach you terrible things.

Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under you.

Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter.

You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made you glad.

Kings' daughters were among your honorable women: on your right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

Listen, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also your own people, and your father's house;

So shall the king greatly desire your beauty: for he is your Lord; and worship you him.

And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat your favor.

The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of worked gold.

She shall be brought to the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought to you.

With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.

Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you may make princes in all the earth.

I will make your name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise you for ever and ever.

Ecclesiastes chapter 1

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

What profit has a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun?

One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but the earth stays for ever.

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to his place where he arose.

The wind goes toward the south, and turns about to the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to his circuits.

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place from where the rivers come, thither they return again.

All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time, which was before us.

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail has God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

I communed with my own heart, saying, See, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yes, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Ecclesiastes chapter 2

I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What does it?

I sought in my heart to give myself to wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

I made me great works; I built me houses; I planted me vineyards:

I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:

I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that brings forth trees:

I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had worked, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that comes after the king? even that which has been already done.

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

The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all.

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

For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dies the wise man? as the fool.

Therefore I hated life; because the work that is worked under the sun is grievous to me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Yes, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me.

And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun.

For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that has not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For what has man of all his labor, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he has labored under the sun?

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yes, his heart takes not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

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

For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?

For God gives to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes chapter 3

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

What profit has he that works in that wherein he labors?

I have seen the travail, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

He has made every thing beautiful in his time: also he has set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end.

I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.

I know that, whatever God does, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God does it, that men should fear before him.

That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yes, they have all one breath; so that a man has no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that goes downward to the earth?

Why I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Ephesians chapter 2

And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience:

Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved; )

And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.

Why remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace;

And that he might reconcile both to God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were near.

For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

And are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

In whom all the building fitly framed together grows to an holy temple in the Lord:

In whom you also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Psalm chapter 45

Ecclesiastes chapter 1

Ecclesiastes chapter 2

Ecclesiastes chapter 3

Ephesians chapter 2

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