One Year Bible.

The Evil of Oppression

¹Again 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. ²So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive. ³But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

⁴I 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.

⁵The fool folds his hands

and consumes his own flesh.

⁶Better one handful with tranquility

than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.

⁷Again, I saw futility under the sun. ⁸There 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.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. ¹⁰For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! ¹¹Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? ¹²And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

The Futility of Power

¹³Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning. ¹⁴For the youth has come from the prison to the kingship, though he was born poor in his own kingdom.

¹⁵I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed this second one, the youth who succeeded the king. ¹⁶There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Approaching God with Fear

¹Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. ²Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.

³As a dream comes through many cares,

so the speech of a fool comes with many words.

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow. ⁵It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

⁶Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.

The Futility of Wealth

⁸If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them. ⁹The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

¹⁰He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile. ¹¹When good things increase, so do those who consume them; what then is the profit to the owner, except to behold them with his eyes?

¹²The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.

¹³There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner, ¹⁴or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.

¹⁵As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands. ¹⁶This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind? ¹⁷Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him — for this is his lot.

¹⁹Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God. ²⁰For a man seldom considers the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

The Futility of Life

¹There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind: ²God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.

³A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. ⁴For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity. ⁵The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man, ⁶even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

⁷All a man’s labor is for his mouth,

yet his appetite is never satisfied.

⁸What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others? ⁹Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁰Whatever exists was named long ago, and it is known what man is; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he. ¹¹For the more words, the more futility — and how does that profit anyone? ¹²For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

A Greeting from Peter

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

A Living Hope

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials ⁷so that the proven character of your faith — more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

⁸Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, ¹¹trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

¹²It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

A Call to Holiness

¹³Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. ¹⁵But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, ¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners. ¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.

²¹Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.

The Enduring Word

²²Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. ²³For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴For,

“All flesh is like grass,

and all its glory like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

²⁵but the word of the Lord stands forever.”

And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

The Living Stone and Chosen People

¹Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. ²Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, ⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For it stands in Scripture:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone,

a chosen and precious cornerstone;

and the one who believes in Him

will never be put to shame.”

⁷To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

⁸and,

“A stone of stumbling

and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word— and to this they were appointed.

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. ¹²Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

Submission to Authorities

¹³Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, ¹⁴or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. ¹⁵For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.

¹⁶Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. ¹⁷Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

¹⁸Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable. ¹⁹For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended. ²⁰How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

Christ’s Example of Suffering

²¹For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:

²²“He committed no sin,

and no deceit was found in His mouth.”

²³When they heaped abuse on Him,

He did not retaliate;

when He suffered, He made no threats,

but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

²⁴He Himself bore our sins

in His body on the tree,

so that we might die to sin

and live to righteousness.

“By His stripes you are healed.”

²⁵For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Wives and Husbands

¹Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives ²when they see your pure and reverent demeanor.

³Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes, ⁴but from the inner disposition of your heart, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in God’s sight. ⁵For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were submissive to their husbands, ⁶just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. And you are her children if you do what is right and refuse to give way to fear.

⁷Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

Turning from Evil

⁸Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble. ⁹Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰For,

“Whoever would love life

and see good days

must keep his tongue from evil

and his lips from deceitful speech.

¹¹He must turn from evil and do good;

he must seek peace and pursue it.

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and His ears are inclined to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against

those who do evil.”

¹³Who can harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

Suffering for Righteousness

¹⁴But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be shaken.” ¹⁵But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶keeping a clear conscience, so that those who slander you may be put to shame by your good behavior in Christ. ¹⁷For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, ¹⁹in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison ²⁰who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water. ²¹And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also — not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God — through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.