December 28, 2026

Ecclesiastes11

Cast Your Bread upon the Waters

1 Cast your bread upon the waters,

for you will find it after many days.

2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,

for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

3 If the clouds are full of rain,

they empty themselves on the earth,

and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,

in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

4 He who observes the wind will not sow,

and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

10 Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Ecclesiastes12

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Song of Songs1

1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.

The Bride Confesses Her Love

She

2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For your love is better than wine;

3 your anointing oils are fragrant;

your name is oil poured out;

therefore virgins love you.

4 Draw me after you; let us run.

The king has brought me into his chambers.

Others

We will exult and rejoice in you;

we will extol your love more than wine;

rightly do they love you.

She

5 I am very dark, but lovely,

O daughters of Jerusalem,

like the tents of Kedar,

like the curtains of Solomon.

6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,

because the sun has looked upon me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me;

they made me keeper of the vineyards,

but my own vineyard I have not kept!

7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,

where you pasture your flock,

where you make it lie down at noon;

for why should I be like one who veils herself

beside the flocks of your companions?

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

8 If you do not know,

O most beautiful among women,

follow in the tracks of the flock,

and pasture your young goats

beside the shepherds’ tents.

9 I compare you, my love,

to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,

your neck with strings of jewels.

Others

11 We will make for you ornaments of gold,

studded with silver.

She

12 While the king was on his couch,

my nard gave forth its fragrance.

13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh

that lies between my breasts.

14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

in the vineyards of Engedi.

He

15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love;

behold, you are beautiful;

your eyes are doves.

She

16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.

Our couch is green;

17 the beams of our house are cedar;

our rafters are pine.

Song of Songs2

1 I am a rose of Sharon,

a lily of the valleys.

He

2 As a lily among brambles,

so is my love among the young women.

She

3 As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,

so is my beloved among the young men.

With great delight I sat in his shadow,

and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

4 He brought me to the banqueting house,

and his banner over me was love.

5 Sustain me with raisins;

refresh me with apples,

for I am sick with love.

6 His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

7 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

The Bride Adores Her Beloved

8 The voice of my beloved!

Behold, he comes,

leaping over the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

9 My beloved is like a gazelle

or a young stag.

Behold, there he stands

behind our wall,

gazing through the windows,

looking through the lattice.

10 My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

11 for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

12 The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree ripens its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the crannies of the cliff,

let me see your face,

let me hear your voice,

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely.

15 Catch the foxes for us,

the little foxes

that spoil the vineyards,

for our vineyards are in blossom.”

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his;

he grazes among the lilies.

17 Until the day breathes

and the shadows flee,

turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle

or a young stag on cleft mountains.

Song of Songs3

The Bride’s Dream

1 On my bed by night

I sought him whom my soul loves;

I sought him, but found him not.

2 I will rise now and go about the city,

in the streets and in the squares;

I will seek him whom my soul loves.

I sought him, but found him not.

3 The watchmen found me

as they went about in the city.

“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

4 Scarcely had I passed them

when I found him whom my soul loves.

I held him, and would not let him go

until I had brought him into my mother’s house,

and into the chamber of her who conceived me.

5 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

Solomon Arrives for the Wedding

6 What is that coming up from the wilderness

like columns of smoke,

perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,

with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?

7 Behold, it is the litter of Solomon!

Around it are sixty mighty men,

some of the mighty men of Israel,

8 all of them wearing swords

and expert in war,

each with his sword at his thigh,

against terror by night.

9 King Solomon made himself a carriage

from the wood of Lebanon.

10 He made its posts of silver,

its back of gold, its seat of purple;

its interior was inlaid with love

by the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Go out, O daughters of Zion,

and look upon King Solomon,

with the crown with which his mother crowned him

on the day of his wedding,

on the day of the gladness of his heart.

Revelation20

The Thousand Years

1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

The Defeat of Satan

7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Judgment Before the Great White Throne

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.