blood; but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual' wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. CHAP. XXXV. FRAILTY AND IMPERFECTION OF MAN. ALL flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Childhood and youth are vanity. Surely every man is vanity. Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain. Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Here have we no continuing city. For Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. what is your life? it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little season, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not. Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away. Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. The glory of man is as the flower of the grass. When he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him. In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down and withered. All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. His days are determined, the number of his months are with thee; thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. The of him that hath seen me shall see eye me no more thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. Man dieth and wasteth away. I have said to corruption, thou art my father: to the worm, thou art my mother, and my sister. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? It is appointed unto men once to die. There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war. Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle. The time of my departure is at hand. and The time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy. as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand breadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee. Thou turnest man to destruction: and sayest, return ye children of men. Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly; how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? They die even without wisdom. We are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. CHAP. XXXVI. FRAUD, OPPRESSION, AND VIOLENCE. DEFRAUD not. Ye shall not deal falsely. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him. If theu lend money shalt not lay upon to any him usury. of my people, thou He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues without right. He that getteth riches and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness. Woe to him that increaseth that which is not Lis! Ye shall not oppress one another. If thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another. Oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor. : Rob not the poor because he is poor neither oppress the afflicted in the gate for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry. What mean ye that ye grind the faces of the poor ? |