Tuesday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling; he was exalted in Israel. But he incurred guilt through Baal, and he died. 2Verse 2. Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!” 3Verse 3. Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window. 4Verse 4. Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me. 5Verse 5. I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. 6Verse 6. When they had pasture, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, their hearts became proud, and as a result they forgot Me. 7Verse 7. So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path. 8Verse 8. Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast tearing them apart. 9Verse 9. You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against Me — against your helper. 10Verse 10. Where is your king now to save you in all your cities, and the rulers to whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”? 11Verse 11. So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away. 12Verse 12. The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is stored up. 13Verse 13. Labor pains come upon him, but he is an unwise son. When the time arrives, he fails to present himself at the opening of the womb. 14Verse 14. I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes. 15Verse 15. Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come — a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article. 16Verse 16. Samaria will bear her guilt because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

16Verse 16. Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. 17Verse 17. I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.” 18Verse 18. I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.” 19Verse 19. For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other — they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile. 20Verse 20. All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust. 21Verse 21. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth? 22Verse 22. I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him? 1Verse 1. Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter. 2Verse 2. So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. 3Verse 3. But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun. 4Verse 4. I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. 5Verse 5. The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. 6Verse 6. Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind. 7Verse 7. Again, I saw futility under the sun. 8Verse 8. There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile — a miserable task.