using your time wisely

⁵Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming this age.

¹⁶but like the wise: atoning for this age, because this is an evil time.

¹²be numbered? So make known your right hand, along with men learned in heart, in wisdom.

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.

¹⁴consider that you do not know what will be tomorrow.

⁴I have glorified you on earth. I have completed the work that you gave me to accomplish.

¹⁵And so, brothers, see to it that you walk cautiously, not like the foolish,

¹¹And we know the present time, that now is the hour for us to rise up from sleep. For already our salvation is closer than when we first believed.

¹And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. ²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect. ³For I say, through the grace that has been given to me, to all who are among you: Taste no more than it is necessary to taste, but taste unto sobriety and just as God has distributed a share of the faith to each one. ⁴For just as, within one body, we have many parts, though all the parts do not have the same role, ⁵so also we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one is a part, the one of the other. ⁶And we each have different gifts, according to the grace that has been given to us: whether prophecy, in agreement with the reasonableness of faith;

¹⁶My fate is in your hands. Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who are persecuting me.

¹⁷She has wrapped her waist with fortitude, and she has strengthened her arm. ¹⁸She has tasted and seen that her tasks are good; her lamp shall not be extinguished at night.

²For he says: “In a favorable time, I heeded you; and on the day of salvation, I helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

²It is in vain that you rise before daylight, that you rise up after you have sat down, you who chew the bread of sorrow. Whereas, to his beloved, he will give sleep.

¹³But who are you to judge your neighbor? Consider this, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into that city, and certainly we will spend a year there, and we will do business, and we will make our profit,” ¹⁴consider that you do not know what will be tomorrow. ¹⁵For what is your life? It is a mist that appears for a brief time, and afterwards will vanish away. So what you ought to say is: “If the Lord wills,” or, “If we live,” we will do this or that.

¹And it happened that, when Jesus entered the house of a certain leader of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were observing him. ²And behold, a certain man before him was afflicted with edema. ³And responding, Jesus spoke to the experts in the law and to the Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath?” ⁴But they kept silent. Yet truly, taking hold of him, he healed him and sent him away. ⁵And responding to them, he said, “Which of you will have a donkey or an ox fall into a pit, and will not promptly pull him out, on the day of the Sabbath?” ⁶And they were unable to respond to him about these things.

¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and exceedingly swift. The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter; the strong will be tested there.