death and birth

¹All things have their time, and all things under heaven continue during their interval. ²A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pull up what was planted. ³A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to tear down, and a time to build up. ⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. ⁵A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. ⁶A time to gain, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

¹³For you have possessed my temperament. You have supported me from the womb of my mother. ¹⁴I will confess to you, for you have been magnified terribly. Your works are miraculous, as my soul knows exceedingly well. ¹⁵My bone, which you have made in secret, has not been hidden from you, and my substance is in accord with the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my imperfection, and all this shall be written in your book. Days will be formed, and no one shall be in them.

¹Why is it necessary for a man to seek things that are greater than himself, when he does not know what is advantageous for himself in his life, during the number of the days of his sojourn, and while time passes by like a shadow? Or who will be able to tell him what will be in the future after him under the sun?

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you went forth from the womb, I sanctified you. And I made you a prophet to the nations.”

⁷For none of us lives for himself, and none of us dies for himself. ⁸For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹For Christ died and rose again for this purpose: that he might be the ruler of both the dead and the living.

²³For the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁵For the living know that they themselves will die, yet truly the dead know nothing anymore, nor do they have any recompense. For the memory of them is forgotten.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb will pasture together. The lion and the ox will eat hay. And dust will be the food of the serpent. They will not harm, and they will not kill, on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

³³These things I have spoken to you, so that you may have peace in me. In the world, you will have difficulties. But have confidence: I have overcome the world.”

⁶Therefore, we are ever confident, knowing that, while we are in the body, we are on a pilgrimage in the Lord. ⁷For we walk by means of faith, and not by sight. ⁸So we are confident, and we have the good will to be on a pilgrimage in the body, so as to be present to the Lord.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

⁹If we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just, so as to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.

¹²Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into this world, and through sin, death; so also death was transferred to all men, to all who have sinned.

²⁸And God blessed them, and he said, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the flying creatures of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

¹And now thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and who formed you, O Israel: Do not be afraid. For I have redeemed you, and I have called you by your name. You are mine.