Thurzo Gizella Bible Study

If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:10 NIV

A Christian’s goal should be to create the Kingdom of God here on earth, as it is in Heaven. Not only, to get to Heaven.

To finish the Bible in one year, Read Ecclesiastes 4-9 and John 12:20-50.

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Reflection for Today.

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Ecclesiastes 4

¹ Then again, I contemplate all the oppression that is committed under the sun. Take for instance the tears of the oppressed. No one to comfort them! The power their oppressors wield. No one to comfort them!

² So, rather than the living who still have lives to live, I congratulate the dead who have already met death;

³ happier than both of these are those who are yet unborn and have not seen the evil things that are done under the sun.

⁴ I see that all effort and all achievement spring from mutual jealousy. This too is futility and chasing after the wind.

⁵ The fool folds his arms and eats his own flesh away.

⁶ Better one hand full of repose than two hands full of achievements to chase after the wind.

⁷ And something else futile I observe under the sun:

⁸ a person is quite alone — no child, no brother; and yet there is no end to his efforts, his eyes can never have their fill of riches. For whom, then, do I work so hard and grudge myself pleasure? This too is futile, a sorry business.

⁹ Better two than one alone, since thus their work is really rewarding.

¹⁰ If one should fall, the other helps him up; but what of the person with no one to help him up when he falls?

¹¹ Again: if two sleep together they keep warm, but how can anyone keep warm alone?

¹² Where one alone would be overcome, two will put up resistance; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³ Better a youngster poor and wise than a monarch old and silly who will no longer take advice-

¹⁴ even though stepping from prison to the throne, even though born a beggar in that kingdom.

¹⁵ I observe that all who live and move under the sun support the young newcomer who takes over.

¹⁶ He takes his place at the head of innumerable subjects; but his successors will not think the more kindly of him for that. This too is futile and chasing after the wind.

¹⁷ Watch your step when you go to the House of God: drawing near to listen is better than the offering of a sacrifice by fools, though they do not know that they are doing wrong.

Ecclesiastes 5

¹ Be in no hurry to speak; do not hastily declare yourself before God; for God is in heaven, you on earth. Be sparing, then, of speech:

² From too much worrying comes illusion, from too much talking, the accents of folly.

³ If you make a vow to God, discharge it without delay, for God has no love for fools. Discharge your vow.

⁴ Better a vow unmade than made and not discharged.

⁵ Do not allow your mouth to make a sinner of you, and do not say to the messenger that it was a mistake. Why give God occasion to be angry with you and ruin all the work that you have done?

⁶ From too many illusions come futility and too much talk. Therefore, fear God.

⁷ If in a province you see the poor oppressed, fair judgement and justice violated, do not be surprised, for over every official there watches a higher official, and over these, higher officials still.

⁸ But what the land yields is for the benefit of all, a king is served by the fields.

⁹ No one who loves money ever has enough, no one who loves luxury has any income; this, too, is futile.

¹⁰ Where goods abound, parasites abound: where is the owner’s profit, apart from feasting his eyes?

¹¹ The labourer’s sleep is sweet, whether he has eaten little or much, but the surfeit of the rich will not let him sleep at all.

¹² Something grossly unjust I observe under the sun: riches stored and turning to loss for their owner.

¹³ An unlucky venture, and those riches are lost; a son is born to him, and he has nothing to leave him.

¹⁴ Naked from his mother’s womb he came; as naked as he came will he depart; not one of his achievements can he take with him.

¹⁵ And something else grossly unjust: that as he came, so must he go; what profit can he show after toiling to earn the wind,

¹⁶ as he spends the rest of his days in darkness, mourning, many sorrows, sickness and exasperation.

¹⁷ So my conclusion is this: true happiness lies in eating and drinking and enjoying whatever has been achieved under the sun, throughout the life given by God: for this is the lot of humanity.

¹⁸ And whenever God gives someone riches and property, with the ability to enjoy them and to find contentment in work, this is a gift from God.

¹⁹ For such a person will hardly notice the passing of time, so long as God keeps his heart occupied with joy.

Ecclesiastes 6

¹ I see another evil under the sun, which goes hard with people:

² suppose someone has received from God riches, property, honours — nothing at all left to wish for; but God does not give the chance to enjoy them, and some stranger enjoys them. This is futile, and grievous suffering too.

³ Or take someone who has had a hundred children and lived for many years, and, having reached old age, has never enjoyed the good things of life and has not even got a tomb; it seems to me, a still-born child is happier.

⁴ In futility it came, into darkness it departs, and in darkness will its name be buried.

⁵ It has never so much as seen or known the sun; all the same, it will rest more easily than that person,

⁶ who would never have known the good things of life, even by living a thousand years twice over. Do we not all go to the same place in the end?

⁷ All toil is for the mouth, yet the appetite is never satisfied.

⁸ What advantage has the wise over the fool? And what of the pauper who knows how to behave in society?

⁹ Better the object seen than the sting of desire: for the latter too is futile and chasing after the wind.

¹⁰ What has been is already defined — we know what people are: They cannot bring to justice one who is stronger than themselves.

¹¹ The more we say, the more futile it is: what good can we derive from it?

¹² And who knows what is best for someone during life, during the days of futile life which are spent like a shadow? Who can tell anyone what will happen after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7

¹ Better a good name than costly oil, the day of death than the day of birth.

² Better go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting; for to this end everyone comes, let the living take this to heart.

³ Better sadness than laughter: a joyful heart may be concealed behind sad looks.

⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, the heart of fools in the house of gaiety.

⁵ Better attend to the reprimand of the wise than listen to a song sung by a fool.

⁶ For like the crackling of thorns under the cauldron is the laughter of fools: and that too is futile.

⁷ But being oppressed drives a sage mad, and a present corrupts the heart.

⁸ Better the end of a matter than its beginning, better patience than ambition.

⁹ Do not be too easily exasperated, for exasperation dwells in the heart of fools.

¹⁰ Do not ask why the past was better than the present, for this is not a question prompted by wisdom.

¹¹ Wisdom is as good as a legacy, profitable to those who enjoy the light of the sun.

¹² For as money protects, so does wisdom, and the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom bestows life on those who possess her.

¹³ Consider God’s creation: who, for instance, can straighten what God has bent?

¹⁴ When things are going well, enjoy yourself, and when they are going badly, consider this: God has designed the one no less than the other so that we should take nothing for granted.

¹⁵ In my futile life, I have seen everything: the upright person perishing in uprightness and the wicked person surviving in wickedness.

¹⁶ Do not be upright to excess and do not make yourself unduly wise: why should you destroy yourself?

¹⁷ Do not be wicked to excess, and do not be a fool: why die before your time?

¹⁸ It is wise to hold on to one and not let go of the other, since the godfearing will find both.

¹⁹ Wisdom makes the wise stronger than a dozen governors in a city.

²⁰ No one on earth is sufficiently upright to do good without ever sinning.

²¹ Again, do not listen to all that people say, then you will not hear your servant abusing you.

²² For often, as you very well know, you have abused others.

²³ Thanks to wisdom, I have found all this to be true; I resolved to be wise, but this was beyond my reach!

²⁴ The past is out of reach, buried deep — who can discover it?

²⁵ But I have reached the point where, having learnt, explored and investigated wisdom and reflection, I recognise evil as being a form of madness, and folly as something stupid.

²⁶ And I find woman more bitter than Death, she is a snare, her heart is a net, and her arms are chains. The man who is pleasing to God eludes her, but the sinner is captured by her.

²⁷ This is what I think, says Qoheleth, having examined one thing after another to draw some conclusion,

²⁸ which I am still looking for, although unsuccessfully: one man in a thousand, I may find, but a woman better than other women-never.

²⁹ This alone is my conclusion: God has created man straightforward, and human artifices are human inventions.

Ecclesiastes 8

¹ Who compares with the sage? Who else knows how to explain things? Wisdom lights up the face, enlivening a grim expression.

² Obey the king’s command and, because of the divine promise,

³ be in no hurry to depart from it; do not be obstinate in a bad cause, since the king will do as he likes in any case.

⁴ Since the word of a king is sovereign, what is the point of saying, ‘Why do that?’

⁵ One who obeys the command will come to no harm; the heart of the sage knows the right moment and verdict,

⁶ for there is a right moment and verdict for everything; but misfortune lies heavy upon anyone

⁷ who does not know what the outcome will be, no one is going to say how things will turn out.

⁸ No one can control the wind and stop it from blowing, no one can control the day of death. From war there is no escape, no more can wickedness save the person who commits it.

⁹ I have seen all this to be so, having carefully studied everything taking place under the sun, while one person tyrannises over another to the former’s detriment.

¹⁰ And again, I have observed the wicked carried to their graves, and people leaving the holy place and, once out in the city, forgetting how the wicked used to behave; how futile this is too!

¹¹ Because the sentence on the evil-doer is not carried out on the instant, people’s hearts are full of desire to do wrong.

¹² The sinner who does wrong a hundred times lives on. But this too I know, that there is good in store for people who fear God, because they fear him,

¹³ but there is no good in store for the wicked because he does not fear God, and so, like a shadow, he will not prolong his days.

¹⁴ Another futile thing that happens on earth: upright people being treated as though they were wicked and wicked people being treated as though they were upright. To me this is one more example of futility.

¹⁵ And therefore I praise joy, since human happiness lies only in eating and drinking and in taking pleasure; this comes from what someone achieves during the days of life that God gives under the sun.

¹⁶ Having applied myself to acquiring wisdom and to observing the activity taking place in the world — for day and night our eyes enjoy no rest-

¹⁷ I have scrutinised God’s whole creation: you cannot get to the bottom of everything taking place under the sun; you may wear yourself out in the search, but you will never find it. Not even a sage can get to the bottom of it, even if he says that he has done so.

Ecclesiastes 9

¹ Yes, I have applied myself to all this and experienced all this to be so: that is to say, that the upright and the wise, with their activities, are in the hands of God. We do not understand either love or hate, where we are concerned, both of them are

² futile. And for all of us is reserved a common fate, for the upright and for the wicked, for the good and for the bad; whether we are ritually pure or not, whether we offer sacrifice or not: it is the same for the good and for the sinner, for someone who takes a vow, as for someone who fears to do so.

³ This is another evil among those occurring under the sun: that there should be the same fate for everyone. The human heart, however, is full of wickedness; folly lurks in our hearts throughout our lives, until we end among the dead.

⁴ But there is hope for someone still linked to the rest of the living: better be a live dog than a dead lion.

⁵ The living are at least aware that they are going to die, but the dead know nothing whatever. No more wages for them, since their memory is forgotten.

⁶ Their love, their hate, their jealousy, have perished long since, and they will never have any further part in what goes on under the sun.

⁷ So, eat your bread in joy, drink your wine with a glad heart, since God has already approved your actions.

⁸ At all times, dress in white and keep your head well scented.

⁹ Spend your life with the woman you love, all the days of futile life God gives you under the sun, throughout your futile days, since this is your lot in life and in the effort you expend under the sun.

¹⁰ Whatever work you find to do, do it with all your might, for there is neither achievement, nor planning, nor science, nor wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

¹¹ Another thing I have observed under the sun: that the race is not won by the speediest, nor the battle by the champions; it is not the wise who get food, nor the intelligent wealth, nor the learned favour: chance and mischance befall them all.

¹² We do not know when our time will come: like fish caught in the treacherous net, like birds caught in the snare, just so are we all trapped by misfortune when it suddenly overtakes us.

¹³ Here is another example of the wisdom I have acquired under the sun and it strikes me as important:

¹⁴ There was once a small town, with only a few inhabitants; a mighty king made war on it, laying siege to it and building great siege-works round it.

¹⁵ But there was in that town a poverty-stricken sage who by his wisdom saved the town. No one remembered this poor man afterwards.

¹⁶ So I say: Wisdom is more effective than brute force, but the wisdom of a poor man is not valued: no one listens to what he has to say.

¹⁷ The calm words of the wise make themselves heard above the shouts of someone commanding an army of fools.

¹⁸ Wisdom is worth more than weapons of war, but a single sin undoes a deal of good.

John 12:20-50

²⁰ Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.

²¹ These approached Philip, who came from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, ‘Sir, we should like to see Jesus.’

²² Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus.

²³ Jesus replied to them: Now the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.

²⁴ In all truth I tell you, unless a wheat grain falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.

²⁵ Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

²⁶ Whoever serves me, must follow me, and my servant will be with me wherever I am. If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.

²⁷ Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour? But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour.

²⁸ Father, glorify your name! A voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will again glorify it.’

²⁹ The crowd standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, ‘It was an angel speaking to him.’

³⁰ Jesus answered, ‘It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.

³¹ ‘Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be driven out.

³² And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself.’

³³ By these words he indicated the kind of death he would die.

³⁴ The crowd answered, ‘The Law has taught us that the Christ will remain for ever. So how can you say, “The Son of man must be lifted up”? Who is this Son of man?’

³⁵ Jesus then said: The light will be with you only a little longer now. Go on your way while you have the light, or darkness will overtake you, and nobody who walks in the dark knows where he is going.

³⁶ While you still have the light, believe in the light so that you may become children of light. Having said this, Jesus left them and was hidden from their sight.

³⁷ Though they had been present when he gave so many signs, they did not believe in him;

³⁸ this was to fulfil the words of the prophet Isaiah: Lord, who has given credence to what they have heard from us, and who has seen in it a revelation of the Lord’s arm?

³⁹ Indeed, they were unable to believe because, as Isaiah says again:

⁴⁰ He has blinded their eyes, he has hardened their heart, to prevent them from using their eyes to see, using their heart to understand, changing their ways and being healed by me.

⁴¹ Isaiah said this because he saw his glory, and his words referred to Jesus.

⁴² And yet there were many who did believe in him, even among the leading men, but they did not admit it, because of the Pharisees and for fear of being banned from the synagogue:

⁴³ they put human glory before God’s glory.

⁴⁴ Jesus declared publicly: Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me,

⁴⁵ and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me.

⁴⁶ I have come into the world as light, to prevent anyone who believes in me from staying in the dark any more.

⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world:

⁴⁸ anyone who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.

⁴⁹ For I have not spoken of my own accord; but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and what to speak,

⁵⁰ and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore what the Father has told me is what I speak.

Sermons by various teachers about these verses.

Catholic Daily Readings and Reflections

Reading 1, Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28

² On the fifth of the month — it was the fifth year of exile for King Jehoiachin-

³ the word of Yahweh was addressed to the priest Ezekiel son of Buzi, in Chaldaea by the River Chebar. There the hand of Yahweh came on him.

⁴ I looked; a stormy wind blew from the north, a great cloud with flashing fire and brilliant light round it, and in the middle, in the heart of the fire, a brilliance like that of amber,

⁵ and in the middle what seemed to be four living creatures. They looked like this: They were of human form.

²⁴ I also heard the noise of their wings; when they moved, it was like the noise of flood-waters, like the voice of Shaddai, like the noise of a storm, like the noise of an armed camp; and when they halted, they lowered their wings;

²⁵ there was a noise too.

²⁶ Beyond the solid surface above their heads, there was what seemed like a sapphire, in the form of a throne. High above on the form of a throne was a form with the appearance of a human being.

²⁷ I saw a brilliance like amber, like fire, radiating from what appeared to be the waist upwards; and from what appeared to be the waist downwards, I saw what looked like fire, giving a brilliant light all round.

²⁸ The radiance of the encircling light was like the radiance of the bow in the clouds on rainy days. The sight was like the glory of Yahweh. I looked and fell to the ground, and I heard the voice of someone speaking to me.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 148:1-2, 11-12, 12-14, 14

¹ Alleluia! Praise Yahweh from the heavens, praise him in the heights.

² Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!

¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations, princes and all judges on earth,

¹² young men and girls, old people and children together.

¹³ Let them praise the name of Yahweh, for his name alone is sublime, his splendour transcends earth and heaven.

¹⁴ For he heightens the strength of his people, to the praise of all his faithful, the children of Israel, the people close to him.

Gospel, Matthew 17:22-27

²² When they were together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of man is going to be delivered into the power of men;

²³ they will put him to death, and on the third day he will be raised up again.’ And a great sadness came over them.

²⁴ When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the half-shekel came to Peter and said, ‘Does your master not pay the half-shekel?’

²⁵ ‘Yes,’ he replied, and went into the house. But before he could speak, Jesus said, ‘Simon, what is your opinion? From whom do earthly kings take toll or tribute? From their sons or from foreigners?’

²⁶ And when he replied, ‘From foreigners,’ Jesus said, ‘Well then, the sons are exempt.

²⁷ However, so that we shall not be the downfall of others, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that rises, open its mouth and there you will find a shekel; take it and give it to them for me and for yourself.’

Audio Drama: Old Testament New Testament Each book is read in its entirety. You can listen to the bible, one book at a time in contemporary English.

Dr. Myles Munroe

I am including a video by Dr. Myles Munroe, I’ve listened to him back in the nineties, and rediscovered him recently. Now his perspective seems to be a good way to also look at scripture. In Pursuit of Purpose – Book Highlights