Christ Church

16  Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17  I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. 18  I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that...

3  For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5  a time to cast away stones, and...

18  I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, 19  and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20  So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21  be...

12  So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13  Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14  The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to al...

2  I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2  I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3  I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heav...

12  I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13  And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14  I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15  What is crooked cannot be mad...

3  What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4  A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5  The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6  The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7  All stream...

1  The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2  Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

10  We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11  For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12  So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13  Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and...

4  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6  So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” 7  Rememb...

13  Let brotherly love continue. 2  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3  Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

12  Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14  Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs u...

4  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7  It is for discipline that you...

12  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne...

30  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31  By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. 32  And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33  who through f...

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God....

11  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2  For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3  By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

26  For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27  but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28  Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29  How much worse punishment, do you think,...

10  For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2  Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3  But in...

15  Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16  For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17  For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in for...

9  Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2  For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. 3  Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4  having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the cov...

8  Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2  a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3  For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4  Now...

11  Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? 12  For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13  For the one of...

7  For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2  and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3  He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neith...

13  For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14  saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15  And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16  For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17  So when God des...