Bible Browser

² Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,^*
   vanity of vanities! All is vanity. ²¹because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? ²³For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90-106)

Psalm 90

God’s Eternity and Human Frailty

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling-place^*
   in all generations.
³ You turn us^* back to dust,
   and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
⁴ For a thousand years in your sight
   are like yesterday when it is past,
   or like a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
   like grass that is renewed in the morning;
⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
   in the evening it fades and withers.

¹² So teach us to count our days
   that we may gain a wise heart.

¹³ Turn, O Lord! How long?
   Have compassion on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
   so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁷ Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
   and prosper for us the work of our hands—
   O prosper the work of our hands!

The New Life in Christ

3So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your^* life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. ¹¹In that renewal^* there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

The Parable of the Rich Fool

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ ¹⁴But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ ¹⁵And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ ¹⁶Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” ¹⁸Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ²⁰But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” ²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’