To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
. . .
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”
For He says: “In the time of favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.
And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
. . .
Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.
For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.
Without a commander, without an overseer or ruler,
it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food at harvest.
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
. . .
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.
“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.
Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
. . .
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.
These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it rises.
. . .
But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place through all generations.
Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”
For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.
You whisk them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—
. . .
This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
. . .
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
For it is just like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his possessions.
To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent—each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey.
The servant who had received the five talents went at once and put them to work and gained five more.
Likewise, the one with the two talents gained two more.
But the servant who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
. . .
But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.
This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances,
Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.
He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Now I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
. . .
Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function,
so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.
. . .
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.
As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.”
Then Jesus said to the crowds, “As soon as you see a cloud rising in the west, you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and that is what happens.
And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It will be hot,’ and it is.
You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and sky. Why don’t you know how to interpret the present time?