Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near ^vof which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,¹ and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the ^wdust returns to the earth as it was, and the ^xspirit returns to God who gave it. 8 ^yVanity² of vanities, says the ^zPreacher; all is vanity.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many ^aproverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

11 ^bThe words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one ^cShepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and ^dmuch study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. ^eFear God and keep his commandments, for ^fthis is the whole duty of man.³ 14 For ^gGod will bring every deed into judgment, with⁴ every secret thing, ^hwhether good or evil.

The Lord Has Chosen Zion

A Song of Ascents.

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

1 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ^gministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready ^hsince last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3 But ⁱI am sending¹ the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, ^jas I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some ^kMacedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. 5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift² you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, ^lnot as an exaction.³

The Cheerful Giver

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and ^mwhoever sows bountifully⁴ will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give ⁿas he has decided in his heart, ^onot reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a ^pcheerful giver. 8 And ^qGod is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency⁵ in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,

10 He who supplies ^sseed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the ^tneeds of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, ^uthey⁶ will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your ^vconfession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your ^wcontribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible ^xgift!

Paul Defends His Ministry

1 I, Paul, myself ^yentreat you, by the ^zmeekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that ^awhen I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of ^bwalking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not ^cwaging war according to the flesh. 4 For the ^dweapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your ^eobedience is complete.

7 Look at what is before your eyes. ^fIf anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is ^gChrist’s, so also are we. 8 For even if I boast a little too much of ^hour authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. 10 For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but ⁱhis bodily presence is weak, and ^jhis speech of no account.” 11 Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. 12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only ^kwith regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For ^lwe were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 ^mso that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. 17 ⁿ“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 18 For it is ^onot the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.