Bible Reading October 21 & 22
World English Bible
Oct. 21
Ecclesiastes 5-7
Ecc 5:1 Guard your steps when you go to God's house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don't know that they do evil.
Ecc 5:2 Don't be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Ecc 5:3 For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool's speech with a multitude of words.
Ecc 5:4 When you vow a vow to God, don't defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow.
Ecc 5:5 It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
Ecc 5:6 Don't allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don't protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?
Ecc 5:7 For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words: but you must fear God.
Ecc 5:8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don't marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
Ecc 5:9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
Ecc 5:10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
Ecc 5:11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?
Ecc 5:12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
Ecc 5:13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
Ecc 5:14 Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.
Ecc 5:15 As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
Ecc 5:16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?
Ecc 5:17 All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.
Ecc 5:18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.
Ecc 5:19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God.
Ecc 5:20 For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.
Ecc 6:1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:
Ecc 6:2 a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
Ecc 6:3 If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:
Ecc 6:4 for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.
Ecc 6:5 Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.
Ecc 6:6 Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don't all go to one place?
Ecc 6:7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
Ecc 6:8 For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?
Ecc 6:9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Ecc 6:10 Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.
Ecc 6:11 For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?
Ecc 6:12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
Ecc 7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one's birth.
Ecc 7:2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart.
Ecc 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.
Ecc 7:4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
Ecc 7:5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
Ecc 7:6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.
Ecc 7:7 Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.
Ecc 7:8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Ecc 7:9 Don't be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
Ecc 7:10 Don't say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For you do not ask wisely about this.
Ecc 7:11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.
Ecc 7:12 For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
Ecc 7:13 Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?
Ecc 7:14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.
Ecc 7:15 All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.
Ecc 7:16 Don't be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
Ecc 7:17 Don't be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?
Ecc 7:18 It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also from that don't withdraw your hand; for he who fears God will come forth from them all.
Ecc 7:19 Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
Ecc 7:20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth, who does good and doesn't sin.
Ecc 7:21 Also don't take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;
Ecc 7:22 for often your own heart knows that you yourself have likewise cursed others.
Ecc 7:23 All this have I proved in wisdom. I said, "I will be wise;" but it was far from me.
Ecc 7:24 That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out?
Ecc 7:25 I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
Ecc 7:26 I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.
Ecc 7:27 Behold, this have I found, says the Preacher, one to another, to find out the scheme;
Ecc 7:28 which my soul still seeks; but I have not found: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
Ecc 7:29 Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes.
Ecclesiastes 8-10
Ecc 8:1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
Ecc 8:2 I say, "Keep the king's command!" because of the oath to God.
Ecc 8:3 Don't be hasty to go out of his presence. Don't persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him,
Ecc 8:4 for the king's word is supreme. Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
Ecc 8:5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.
Ecc 8:6 For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.
Ecc 8:7 For he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?
Ecc 8:8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
Ecc 8:9 All this have I seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
Ecc 8:10 So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.
Ecc 8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
Ecc 8:12 Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
Ecc 8:13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn't fear God.
Ecc 8:14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
Ecc 8:15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
Ecc 8:16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes),
Ecc 8:17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can't find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won't find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won't be able to find it.
Ecc 9:1 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn't know it; all is before them.
Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn't sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.
Ecc 9:3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
Ecc 9:4 For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ecc 9:6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
Ecc 9:7 Go your way--eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.
Ecc 9:8 Let your garments be always white, and don't let your head lack oil.
Ecc 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.
Ecc 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.
Ecc 9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
Ecc 9:12 For man also doesn't know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.
Ecc 9:13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
Ecc 9:14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.
Ecc 9:15 Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
Ecc 9:16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
Ecc 9:17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.
Ecc 9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
Ecc 10:1 Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth an evil odor; so does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor.
Ecc 10:2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left.
Ecc 10:3 Yes also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
Ecc 10:4 If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, don't leave your place; for gentleness lays great offenses to rest.
Ecc 10:5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler.
Ecc 10:6 Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.
Ecc 10:7 I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the earth.
Ecc 10:8 He who digs a pit may fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
Ecc 10:9 Whoever carves out stones may be injured by them. Whoever splits wood may be endangered thereby.
Ecc 10:10 If the axe is blunt, and one doesn't sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but skill brings success.
Ecc 10:11 If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer's tongue.
Ecc 10:12 The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips.
Ecc 10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.
Ecc 10:14 A fool also multiplies words. Man doesn't know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him?
Ecc 10:15 The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn't know how to go to the city.
Ecc 10:16 Woe to you, land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!
Ecc 10:17 Happy are you, land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
Ecc 10:18 By slothfulness the roof sinks in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaks.
Ecc 10:19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes the life glad; and money is the answer for all things.
Ecc 10:20 Don't curse the king, no, not in your thoughts; and don't curse the rich in your bedchamber: for a bird of the sky may carry your voice, and that which has wings may tell the matter.
Oct. 21
Colossians 2
Col 2:1 For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
Col 2:2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
Col 2:3 in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
Col 2:4 Now this I say that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
Col 2:5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
Col 2:6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him,
Col 2:7 rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
Col 2:8 Be careful that you don't let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.
Col 2:9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
Col 2:10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
Col 2:11 in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
Col 2:12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Col 2:13 You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Col 2:14 wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;
Col 2:15 having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,
Col 2:17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's.
Col 2:18 Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Col 2:19 and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God's growth.
Col 2:20 If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
Col 2:21 "Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch"
Col 2:22 (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?
Col 2:23 Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren't of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
Colossians 3
Col 3:1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
Col 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Col 3:4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.
Col 3:5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
Col 3:6 for which things' sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
Col 3:7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;
Col 3:8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
Col 3:9 Don't lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
Col 3:10 and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,
Col 3:11 where there can't be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
Col 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
Col 3:14 Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
Col 3:17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
Col 3:18 Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Col 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and don't be bitter against them.
Col 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.
Col 3:21 Fathers, don't provoke your children, so that they won't be discouraged.
Col 3:22 Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
Col 3:23 And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,
Col 3:24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Col 3:25 But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality
[EDITOR’S NOTE: A.P. auxiliary writer Robert Veil, Jr. formerly served as a district attorney for the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office, and previously maintained an active private law practice. He currently preaches in Martinsburg, West Virginia.]