Evil Under the Sun

1 ^uAgain I ^vsaw all ^wthe oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had ^xno one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. 2 And I ^ythought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. 3 But ^zbetter than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is ^avanity¹ and a striving after wind.

5 The fool ^bfolds his hands and ^ceats his own flesh.

6 ^dBetter is a handful of ^equietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

7 ^uAgain, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his ^feyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ^g“For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy ^hbusiness.

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, ⁱbut how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

13 Better was ^ja poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how ^kto take advice. 14 For he went ^lfrom prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. 15 I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that² youth who was to stand in the king’s³ place. 16 There was no end of all the people, all of whom he led. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is ^mvanity and a striving after wind.

Fear God

1 ⁿGuard your steps when you go to ^othe house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to ^poffer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. 2 ⁵ Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore ^qlet your words be few. 3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with ^rmany words.

4 When ^syou vow a vow to God, ^tdo not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. ^uPay what you vow. 5 ^vIt is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. 6 Let not your mouth lead you⁶ into sin, and do not say before ^wthe messenger⁷ that it was ^xa mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity;⁸ but^{9 y}God is the one you must fear.

The Vanity of Wealth and Honor

8 ^zIf you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, ^ado not be amazed at the matter, ^bfor the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. 9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.¹⁰

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

13 ^cThere is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15 ^dAs he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. 16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what ^egain is there to him who ^ftoils for the wind? 17 Moreover, all his days he ^geats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

18 Behold, what I have seen to be ^hgood and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment¹¹ in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his ⁱlot. 19 Everyone also to whom ^jGod has given ^kwealth and possessions ^land power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is ^mthe gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

1 ⁿThere is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man ^oto whom ^pGod gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he ^qlacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God ^rdoes not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;¹² it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that ^sthe days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s ^tgood things, and he also has no ^uburial, I say that ^va stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not ^wseen the sun or known anything, yet it finds ^xrest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy¹³ no good—do not all go to the one place?

7 ^yAll the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.¹⁴ 8 For what advantage has the wise man ^zover the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better ^ais the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is ^bvanity and a striving after wind.

10 Whatever has come to be has ^calready been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to ^ddispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his ^evain¹⁵ life, which he passes like ^fa shadow? For who can tell man what will be ^gafter him under the sun?

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to ^yJeduthun. A Psalm of ^zAsaph.

Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and ^qflogged him. 2 ^rAnd the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that ^sI find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing ^tthe crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ^u“Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, ^v“Take him yourselves and crucify him, for ^wI find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews¹ answered him, “We have a law, and ^xaccording to that law he ought to die because ^yhe has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, ^zhe was even more afraid. 9 ^aHe entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ^b“Where are you from?” But ^cJesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, ^d“You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore ^ehe who delivered me over to you ^fhas the greater sin.”

12 From then on ^gPilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. ^hEveryone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on ⁱthe judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic² Gabbatha. 14 Now it was ^jthe day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.³ He said to the Jews, ^k“Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, ^l“Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 ^mSo he ⁿdelivered him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus, 17 and ^ohe went out, ^pbearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 ^qThere they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate ^ralso wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for ^sthe place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, ^t“What I have written I have written.”

23 ^uWhen the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.⁴ But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” ^vThis was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

So the soldiers did these things, 25 ^xbut standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and ^ythe disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ^z“Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to ^ahis own home.

The Death of Jesus

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now ^bfinished, said (^vto fulfill the Scripture), ^c“I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, ^dso they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ^e“It is finished,” and he bowed his head and ^fgave up his spirit.

Jesus’ Side Is Pierced

31 Since it was ^gthe day of Preparation, and ^hso that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was ⁱa high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other ^jwho had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out ^kblood and water. 35 ^lHe who saw it has borne witness—^mhis testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—ⁿthat you also may believe. 36 ^oFor these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ^p“Not one of his bones ^qwill be broken.” 37 And again another Scripture says, ^r“They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Jesus Is Buried

38 ^sAfter these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly ^tfor fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. 39 ^uNicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus⁵ by night, came ^vbringing a mixture of ^wmyrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds⁶ in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and ^xbound it in ^ylinen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a ^zgarden, and ^ain the garden a new tomb ^bin which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish ^cday of Preparation, ^dsince the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.