I am going soon and will never come back--- going to a land that is dark and gloomy,

a land of darkness, shadows, and confusion, where the light itself is darkness.

I know you are taking me off to my death, to the fate in store for everyone.

After all, the same fate awaits human beings and animals alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either.

How can anyone be sure that the human spirit goes upward while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground?

You will be afraid of high places, and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone. We are going to our final resting place, and then there will be mourning in the streets.

But I know there is someone in heaven who will come at last to my defense.

I will see him with my own eyes, and he will not be a stranger. My courage failed because you said,

They will disappear, but you will remain; they will all wear out like clothes. You will discard them like clothes, and they will vanish.

Look up at the heavens; look at the earth! The heavens will disappear like smoke; the earth will wear out like old clothing, and all its people will die like flies. But the deliverance I bring will last forever; my victory will be final.

The LORD says, "I am making a new earth and new heavens. The events of the past will be completely forgotten.

"Just as the new earth and the new heavens will endure by my power, so your descendants and your name will endure.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

He must remain in heaven until the time comes for all things to be made new, as God announced through his holy prophets of long ago.

For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope

But the heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by the same command of God, in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed.

But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish.

as you wait for the Day of God and do your best to make it come soon---the Day when the heavens will burn up and be destroyed, and the heavenly bodies will be melted by the heat.

Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sits on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence and were seen no more.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished.

If I had died then, I would be at rest now,

Can't you ever forgive my sin? Can't you pardon the wrong I do? Soon I will be in my grave, and I'll be gone when you look for me.

Those of our people who have died will live again! Their bodies will come back to life. All those sleeping in their graves will wake up and sing for joy. As the sparkling dew refreshes the earth, so the LORD will revive those who have long been dead.

Many of those who have already died will live again: some will enjoy eternal life, and some will suffer eternal disgrace.

Jesus said this and then added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up."

Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought he meant natural sleep.

for anything that is clearly revealed becomes light. That is why it is said, "Wake up, sleeper, and rise from death, and Christ will shine on you."

We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in him.

W_ hat we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died.