And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

I applied my heart to know, To search and seek out wisdom and the reason [of things,] To know the wickedness of folly, Even of foolishness [and] madness.

When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night,

And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out [and] set in order many proverbs.

The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and [what was] written [was] upright -- words of truth.

There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just [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.

Yes, He loves the people; All His saints [are] in Your hand; They sit down at Your feet; [Everyone] receives Your words.

He will guard the feet of His saints, But the wicked shall be silent in darkness. "For by strength no man shall prevail.

Then the king said to Zadok, "Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and show me [both] it and His dwelling place.

"But if He says thus: 'I have no delight in you,' here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him."

"But as for me, I would seek God, And to God I would commit my cause --

But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief, To repay [it] by Your hand. The helpless commits himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring [it] to pass.

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.

Commit your works to the LORD, And your thoughts will be established.

LORD, You will establish peace for us, For You have also done all our works in us.

"Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar! The LORD has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.

"And He said to me, 'You [are] My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.'

For behold, I have made you this day A fortified city and an iron pillar, And bronze walls against the whole land -- Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land.

They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I [am] with you," says the LORD, "to deliver you."

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

"My Father, who has given [them] to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of My Father's hand.

Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, [you are] God's building.

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is.

If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

I have seen everything in my days of vanity: There is a just [man] who perishes in his righteousness, And there is a wicked [man] who prolongs [life] in his wickedness.

For I [was] envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

And they say, "How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?"

Surely I have cleansed my heart [in] vain, And washed my hands in innocence.

So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.' "

"They shall be Mine," says the LORD of hosts, "On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him."