Ecclesiastes 1:5–9

¹¹The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

⁴Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

⁵Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

⁶His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

¹AS the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

²²While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

¹³And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

¹⁴And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.

¹⁹He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.

²⁰Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.

²¹The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.

²²The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.

²³Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

³⁶His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

³⁷It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

²⁰Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;

⁸The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

⁵As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

¹⁷How thy garments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?

⁹Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.

²⁵For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

²⁹He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

¹³And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.

¹⁴But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.

¹⁵And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

⁴¶ But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

²⁴¶ Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

²⁷And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

¹⁰And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,

¹¹And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

⁶Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.

⁸They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

⁹Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

²⁰Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

²⁸¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

⁸There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

¹¹Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

²⁶For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth 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.

¹SO I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

²Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

³Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

⁴¶ Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

¹⁰He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

¹¹When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

²⁴That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

²⁵I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

⁶Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

¹⁵The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:

¹⁶The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.

⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:

¹⁶They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

¹⁷For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

²²For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

²³And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

¹⁵That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

¹⁰That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

¹AND I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

¹²¶ And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

¹⁰Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

²²¶ How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.

¹BUT there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

⁵And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.