Ecclesiastes 10:15

‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the evil which I will bring on this place.’ ” ’ ” So they brought this message back to the king.

From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” He struck them with blindness according to Elishah’s word.

Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men.

Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”

One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.

Every prudent man acts from knowledge, but a fool exposes folly.

A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have exhausted themselves, and profit nothing. You will be ashamed of your fruits, because of Yahweh’s fierce anger.”

Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.

He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.

The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is counted wise. When he shuts his lips, he is thought to be discerning.

Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle. It set him on fire all around, but he didn’t know. It burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.”

Don’t weep for the dead. Don’t bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native country.

I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” says Yahweh.

For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.

The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.

Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge;

Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble.

Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.

He took up his parable, and said, “From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.

“Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes won’t see all the evil that I will bring on this place and on its inhabitants.” ’ ” They brought back word to the king.

There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in,

Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;

They will not labor in vain nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of Yahweh’s blessed and their descendants with them.

“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.

Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

It will happen, if you diligently listen to me,” says Yahweh, “to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;

They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.

Because of Yahweh’s wrath she won’t be inhabited, but she will be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon will be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues.

They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.

In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, ‘We are utterly ruined! My people’s possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’ ”

Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?

of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

I bowed my head, and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son.

Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year that the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, remaining on it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and didn’t travel; but when it was taken up, they traveled.

Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation who had done evil in Yahweh’s sight was consumed.

who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint;

Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”

Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, “Don’t fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel.”

Moreover, in a pillar of cloud you led them by day; and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go.

Now these are the chiefs of the province who lived in Jerusalem; but in the cities of Judah everyone lived in his possession in their cities: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the children of Solomon’s servants.

He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

“Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.

Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.

She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,

He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.

Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.

Guide me in your truth, and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation, I wait for you all day long.

“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

You led your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in.

he led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in.

to him who led his people through the wilderness; for his loving kindness endures forever:

A fool’s lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then, do I labor and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.

For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words.

Yes also when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.

If the ax is blunt, and one doesn’t sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but skill brings success.

Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.

I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be exalted.

Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.

The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.

You were wearied with the length of your ways; yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’ You found a reviving of your strength; therefore you weren’t faint.

“Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way?

Yahweh says, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, ‘Where is the good way?’ and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.

“Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Should the women eat their offspring, the children that they held and bounced on their knees? Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’

“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.

Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate;

Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no one. They led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

For your obedience has become known to all. I rejoice therefore over you. But I desire to have you wise in that which is good, but innocent in that which is evil.

Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.