John 7:1-13
[1]
After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea,
because the Jews were seeking to kill him. [2] Now the Jews’ Feast of
Booths was at hand. [3] So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go
to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. [4]
For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do
these things, show yourself to the world.” [5] For not even his brothers
believed in him. [6] Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but
your time is always here. [7] The world cannot hate you, but it hates
me because I testify about it that its works are evil. [8] You go up to
the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet
fully come.” [9] After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
[10]
But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up,
not publicly but in private. [11] The Jews were looking for him at the
feast, and saying, “Where is he?” [12] And there was much muttering
about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others
said, “No, he is leading the people astray.” [13] Yet for fear of the
Jews no one spoke openly of him.
1 Peter 4:12-19
[12]
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you
to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. [13] But
rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also
rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. [14] If you are insulted
for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory
and of God rests upon you. [15] But let none of you suffer as a murderer
or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. [16] Yet if anyone suffers
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that
name. [17] For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God;
and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not
obey the gospel of God? [18] And
“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
[19] Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Ecclesiastes 7
[1] A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of birth.
[2] It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart.
[3] Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
[4] The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
[5] It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
[6] For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of the fools;
this also is vanity.
[7] Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
[8] Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
[9] Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
[10] Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
[11] Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun.
[12] For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
[13] Consider the work of God:
who can make straight what he has made crooked?
[14] In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity
consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not
find out anything that will be after him.
[15]
In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who
perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs
his life in his evildoing. [16] Be not overly righteous, and do not make
yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? [17] Be not overly
wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? [18] It
is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not
your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.
[19] Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
[20] Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
[21]
Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your
servant cursing you. [22] Your heart knows that many times you yourself
have cursed others.
[23]
All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was
far from me. [24] That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep;
who can find it out?
[25]
I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the
scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the
foolishness that is madness. [26] And I find something more bitter than
death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are
fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.
[27] Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one
thing to another to find the scheme of things—[28] which my soul has
sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I
found, but a woman among all these I have not found. [29] See, this
alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many
schemes.
Lamentations 2
[1] How the Lord in his anger
has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.
[2] The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
the kingdom and its rulers.
[3] He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn from them his right hand
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.
[4] He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes
in the tent of the daughter of Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.
[5] The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel;
he has swallowed up all its palaces;
he has laid in ruins its strongholds,
and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah
mourning and lamentation.
[6] He has laid waste his booth like a garden,
laid in ruins his meeting place;
the LORD has made Zion forget
festival and Sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
[7] The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
they raised a clamor in the house of the LORD
as on the day of festival.
[8] The LORD determined to lay in ruins
the wall of the daughter of Zion;
he stretched out the measuring line;
he did not restrain his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languished together.
[9] Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
the law is no more,
and her prophets find
no vision from the LORD.
[10] The elders of the daughter of Zion
sit on the ground in silence;
they have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth;
the young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.
[11] My eyes are spent with weeping;
my stomach churns;
my bile is poured out to the ground
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
because infants and babies faint
in the streets of the city.
[12] They cry to their mothers,
“Where is bread and wine?”
as they faint like a wounded man
in the streets of the city,
as their life is poured out
on their mothers’ bosom.
[13] What can I say for you, to what compare you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is vast as the sea;
who can heal you?
[14] Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions;
they have not exposed your iniquity
to restore your fortunes,
but have seen for you oracles
that are false and misleading.
[15] All who pass along the way
clap their hands at you;
they hiss and wag their heads
at the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that was called
the perfection of beauty,
the joy of all the earth?”
[16] All your enemies
rail against you;
they hiss, they gnash their teeth,
they cry: “We have swallowed her!
Ah, this is the day we longed for;
now we have it; we see it!”
[17] The LORD has done what he purposed;
he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
and exalted the might of your foes.
[18] Their heart cried to the Lord.
O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a torrent
day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
your eyes no respite!
[19] “Arise, cry out in the night,
at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
before the presence of the Lord!
Lift your hands to him
for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
at the head of every street.”
[20] Look, O LORD, and see!
With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
in the sanctuary of the Lord?
[21] In the dust of the streets
lie the young and the old;
my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword;
you have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without pity.
[22] You summoned as if to a festival day
my terrors on every side,
and on the day of the anger of the LORD
no one escaped or survived;
those whom I held and raised
my enemy destroyed.
