Ecclesiastes 7:1

Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.

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

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”

A good name is more desirable than great riches, and loving favor is better than silver and gold.

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.

“At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there will be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. At that time your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.

Satan entered into Judas, who was also called Iscariot, who was counted with the twelve.

In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.

Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.

All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.

Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.

Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up. It will make a name for Yahweh, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”

Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them.

Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

Having regard for honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.

He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.

I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God.

Moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne;’ and the king bowed himself on the bed.

She shall be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you.

Yahweh will count, when he writes up the peoples, “This one was born there.”

The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.

A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.

How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights!

It will happen that he who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem,

Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.

“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who utter lying divinations. They will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”

“But go your way until the end; for you will rest, and will stand in your inheritance at the end of the days.”

Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”

When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

At that time I will bring you in, and at that time I will gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says Yahweh.

Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:

Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

After the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

Then don’t let your good be slandered,

But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,

but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

But Christ having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation,

For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

To them it was revealed, that they served not to themselves, but to you, in these things, which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Good News to you by the Holy Spirit sent out from heaven; which things angels desire to look into.

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.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.

A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.

If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him.

Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”

Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.

Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”

Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?

We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.

See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.

I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.”

They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!

She lay at his feet until the morning, then she rose up before one could discern another. For he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

He hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.

The light of the eyes rejoices the heart. Good news gives health to the bones.

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.

Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to produce an evil odor; so does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor.

I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.

Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

For by this, the elders obtained testimony.

These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn’t receive the promise,

It is like the precious oil on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that came down on the edge of his robes,

How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, the fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices!