GIVING

the heart of the sons of men is full of evil.

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.[Ps. 49:12]

Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.[Ps. 49:20]

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. 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.(Ps. 103:14-16)

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.(Is. 40:6-8)

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...For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; {Yet} through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the Ghost, and where {is} he?(Job 14:1~2, 7~10)

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: 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 withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: 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. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.(Ps. 90:3-12)

For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.(Ps. 78:39)

For who knoweth what {is} good for man in {this} life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun.(Ecc.6:12)

One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.(Job 21:23-26)

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?(Rom.7:24)

Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.(Ps. 62:9)

Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?(Ps. 89:47-48 )

Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.(Job 5:7)

Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth {is} heaviness.(Prov.14:13)

For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? For all his days {are} sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.(Ecc.2:23)

Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun {is} grievous unto me: for all {is} vanity and vexation of spirit.(Ecc.2:17)

Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away. (Ps. 144:4)

For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.(Ps. 49:17-20)

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.(Ps. 39:5~6)

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all {is} vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?(Ecc 3:19-21)

Sorrow {is} better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.(Ecc. 7:4)

Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.(Pro 27:1)

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof {are} the ways of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth {is} heaviness.(Pro 14:12)

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. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.(James 4:14)

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.(Lk.12:16-21)

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.(Ps. 37:23)

The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, {is} from the Lord. All the ways of a man {are} clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.(Prov. 16:1-2)

A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.(Pro 16:9)

The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof {is} of the Lord.(Prov. 16:33)

{There are} many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.(Prov. 19:21)

Man's goings {are} of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?(Prov. 20:24)

O Lord, I know that the way of man {is} not in himself: {it is} not in man that walketh to direct his steps.(Jer.10:23)

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.(Ps. 143:2)

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:(Rom. 1:19-20)

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.(Ps. 51:5)

How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean {that is} born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, {that is} a worm? and the son of man, {which is} a worm?(Job 25:4-6)

The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.(Prov. 19:3)

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.(Ecc. 8:11)

This {is} an evil among all {things} that are done under the sun, that {there is} one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness {is} in their heart while they live, and after that {they go} to the dead.(Ecc. 9:3)

The heart {is} deceitful above all {things}, and desperately wicked: who can know it?(Jer.17:9)

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.(Is.64:6)

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:(Ps. 32:10)

There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.(Is.48:22)

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.(Rom.3:10-18)

God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.(Ps.7:11,12)

For {God} shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.(Job 27:22)

For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.(Lam. 3:33)

That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.(Is. 40:23, 24)

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:(Rom. 3:22)

Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.

Let us lift up our heart with {our} hands unto God in the heavens.
(Lam 3:39-41)