Ecclesiastes 6:12

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.

Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

For my hand has made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but I will look to this man, even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.

Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.”

May God be merciful to us, bless us, and cause his face to shine on us.

My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.

For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words; but you must fear God.

The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”

For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;

Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous,

For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. All those who do his work have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

Yahweh is my portion. I promised to obey your words.

I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.

Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you,

Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.

“I am a stranger and a foreigner living with you. Give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’

You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.

Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye will no more see good.

He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.

To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”

For Yahweh is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright shall see his face.

You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.

Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness.

He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.

Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.

In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.

The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.

I am a stranger on the earth. Don’t hide your commandments from me.

Make your face shine on your servant. Teach me your statutes.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.

The fear of Yahweh leads to life, then contentment; he rests and will not be touched by trouble.

Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

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

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

Therefore turn to your God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait continually for your God.

For Yahweh restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him.

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

A fool also multiplies words. Man doesn’t know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him?

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.

For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.

But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none;

For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

His sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it. They are brought low, but he doesn’t perceive it of them.

My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.

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

Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved.

Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of men!

My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.

I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.

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

I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.

Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither do they any longer have a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”

This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him.