The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; ^senjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.¹ 2 I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I searched with my heart how to ^tcheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^ufolly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the ^vfew days of their life. 4 I made great works. I ^wbuilt houses and planted ^xvineyards for myself. 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also ^ygreat possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and ^zgold and the ^atreasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, ^bboth men and women, and ^cmany concubines,² the delight of the sons of man.

9 So I became great and ^dsurpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ^ereward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a ^fstriving after wind, and there was nothing to be ^ggained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

12 So I turned to consider wisdom and ^hmadness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? ⁱOnly what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in ^jwisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. ^kAnd yet I perceived that ^lthe same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring ^mremembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How ⁿthe wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^oleave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from all the ^ptoil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For ^qall his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

24 ^rThere is nothing better for a person than that he should ^seat and drink and find enjoyment³ in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him⁴ who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, ^tonly to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Let Us Go to the House of the Lord

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^aapostle of Christ Jesus ^bby the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

3 ^cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of ^dmercies and ^eGod of all ^fcomfort, 4 who ^gcomforts us in ^hall our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we ⁱshare abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.¹ 6 If we are afflicted, ^jit is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,² of ^kthe affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God ^lwho ^mraises the dead. 10 He ⁿdelivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him ^owe have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 ^pYou also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul’s Change of Plans

12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our ^qconscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity³ and godly ^rsincerity, not by ^searthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the ^tday of our Lord Jesus you will ^uboast of us as we will ^vboast of you.

15 Because I was sure of this, ^wI wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second ^xexperience of grace. 16 ^yI wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans ^zaccording to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has ^aanointed us, 22 and who has also ^bput his seal on us and given us his Spirit ^cin our hearts as a ^dguarantee.⁴

23 But ^eI call God to witness against me—^fit was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you ^gstand firm in your faith.

1 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For ^hif I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And ⁱI wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for ^jI felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Forgive the Sinner

5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this ^kpunishment by the majority is enough, 7 so ^lyou should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So ^mI beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are ⁿobedient in everything. 10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Triumph in Christ

12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a ^odoor was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was ^pnot at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always ^qleads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the ^rfragrance of the ^sknowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the ^taroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of ^usincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

Ministers of the New Covenant

1 ^vAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, ^wletters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 ^xYou yourselves ^yare our letter of recommendation, written on our⁵ hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on ^ztablets of stone but on ^atablets of ^bhuman hearts.⁶

4 Such is the ^cconfidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a ^dnew covenant, ^enot of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but ^fthe Spirit gives life.

7 Now if the ^gministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that ^hthe Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

12 Since we have such a hope, we are very ⁱbold, 13 not like Moses, ^jwho would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their ^kminds were ^lhardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one⁷ turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord⁸ is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is ^mfreedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, ⁿbeholding ^othe glory of the Lord,⁹ are being ^ptransformed ^qinto the same image from one degree of glory to another.¹⁰ For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.