They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; ¹  they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty. ² 

They crouch, they bear ¹  their young, they bring forth the offspring they have carried. ² 

See my pain and suffering! Forgive all my sins! ¹ 

The reward ¹  which the righteous receive ²  is life; the recompense ³  which the wicked receive ⁴  is judgment. ⁵ 

What benefit ¹  do people ²  get from all the effort which ³  they expend ⁴  on earth? ⁵ 

We are pursued – they are breathing down our necks; ¹  we are weary and have no rest. ² 

Or do only Barnabas and I lack the right not to work?

The farmer who works hard ought to have the first share of the crops.

He named him Noah, ¹  saying, “This one will bring us comfort ²  from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed.”

So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he ¹  heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression.

As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives.

I gave you a land in ¹  which you had not worked hard; you took up residence in cities you did not build and you are eating the produce of ²  vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’

At that time I instructed ¹  the people, “Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day.

Then I considered ¹  all the skillful work ²  that is done: Surely it is nothing more than ³  competition ⁴  between one person and another. ⁵  This also is profitless – like ⁶  chasing the wind.

To every man whom God has given wealth, and possessions, he has also given him the ability ¹  to eat from them, to receive his reward and to find enjoyment in his toil; these things ²  are the gift of God.

As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O Lord.

Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? ¹  Why spend ²  your hard-earned money ³  on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully ⁴  to me and eat what is nourishing! ⁵  Enjoy fine food! ⁶ 

From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal, has taken away ¹  all that our ancestors ²  worked for. It has taken away our flocks and our herds, and even our sons and daughters.

“‘Sure to be judged ¹  is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. ²  He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

The Lord said, “You were upset ¹  about this little ²  plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day. ³