choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure.

You lead me in ¹  the path of life; ²  I experience absolute joy in your presence; ³  you always give me sheer delight. ⁴ 

As for the seed that ¹  fell among thorns, these are the ones who hear, but ²  as they go on their way they are choked ³  by the worries and riches and pleasures of life, ⁴  and their fruit does not mature. ⁵ 

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

They are filled with food from your house, and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.

If they obey and serve him, they live out their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness. ¹ 

treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God.

So now, listen to this, O one who lives so lavishly, ¹  who lives securely, who says to herself, ²  ‘I am unique! No one can compare to me! ³  I will never have to live as a widow; I will never lose my children.’ ⁴ 

suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. ¹  By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, ²  they are stains and blemishes, indulging ³  in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you.

Where do the conflicts and where ¹  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ²  from your passions that battle inside you? ³ 

Because he covered his face with fat, ¹  and made ²  his hips bulge with fat, ³ 

“Stolen waters ¹  are sweet, and food obtained in secret ²  is pleasant!”

For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder,

I also amassed silver and gold for myself, as well as valuable treasures ¹  taken from kingdoms and provinces. ²  I acquired male singers and female singers for myself, and what gives a man sensual delight ³  – a harem of beautiful concubines! ⁴ 

The one whose appetite ¹  is satisfied loathes honey, but to the hungry mouth ²  every bitter thing is sweet.

I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, ¹  just as light is preferable to darkness:

It trains us ¹  to reject godless ways ²  and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

You have lived indulgently and luxuriously on the earth. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ¹ 

These people are grumblers and ¹  fault-finders who go ²  wherever their desires lead them, ³  and they give bombastic speeches, ⁴  enchanting folks ⁵  for their own gain. ⁶