Formation Journal Reading Plan

4:1 So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of [such as were] oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors [there was] power; but they had no comforter.

4:2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

4:3 Yea, better [is he] than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

4:4 Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit.

4:5 The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

4:6 Better [is] an handful [with] quietness, than both the hands full [with] travail and vexation of spirit.

4:7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.

4:8 There is one [alone], and [there is] not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet [is there] no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither [saith he], For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This [is] also vanity, yea, it [is] a sore travail.

4:9 Two [are] better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

4:10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him [that is] alone when he falleth; for [he hath] not another to help him up.

4:11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm [alone]?

4:12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

4:13 Better [is] a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.

4:14 For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also [he that is] born in his kingdom becometh poor.

4:15 I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead.

4:16 [There is] no end of all the people, [even] of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

5:1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

5:2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter [any] thing before God: for God [is] in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

5:3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice [is known] by multitude of words.

5:4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for [he hath] no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

5:5 Better [is it] that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

5:6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it [was] an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?

5:7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.

5:8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for [he that is] higher than the highest regardeth; and [there be] higher than they.

5:9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king [himself] is served by the field.

5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.

5:11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good [is there] to the owners thereof, saving the beholding [of them] with their eyes?

5:12 The sleep of a labouring man [is] sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

5:13 There is a sore evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

5:14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand.

5:15 As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

5:16 And this also [is] a sore evil, [that] in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

5:17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

5:18 Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.

5:19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this [is] the gift of God.

5:20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.

69:1 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, [A Psalm] of David. Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto [my] soul.

69:2 I sink in deep mire, where [there is] no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

69:3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

69:4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, [being] mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored [that] which I took not away.

69:5 O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

69:6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

69:7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

69:8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.

69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

69:10 When I wept, [and chastened] my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

69:11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.

69:12 They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I [was] the song of the drunkards.

69:13 But as for me, my prayer [is] unto thee, O LORD, [in] an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

69:14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

69:15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

2:5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.

2:6 Sufficient to such a man [is] this punishment, which [was inflicted] of many.

2:7 So that contrariwise ye [ought] rather to forgive [him], and comfort [him], lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

2:8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm [your] love toward him.

2:9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.

2:10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I [forgive] also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave [it], for your sakes [forgave I it] in the person of Christ;

2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

2:12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to [preach] Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,

2:13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.

2:14 Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

2:15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

2:16 To the one [we are] the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who [is] sufficient for these things?

2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some [others], epistles of commendation to you, or [letters] of commendation from you?

3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

3:3 [Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God;

3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.