“ But God said to him,‘ You foolish man! Tonight I will take your life away from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

神却对他说：‘无知的人哪，今夜必要你的灵魂；你所预备的要归谁呢？’

上帝却对他说：‘无知的人哪！今夜就要你的性命，你所预备的要归谁呢？’

神却对他说：‘无知的人哪！今夜就要你的性命，你所预备的要归谁呢？’

但上帝对他说，‘无知的人啊，今晚就要取走你的命！你所预备的一切留给谁享用呢？’”

神却对他说：‘无知的人哪，今天晚上，你的灵魂必被取去，你所预备的要归给谁呢？’

“可是神对他说：‘你这愚妄的人哪！今夜，他们就要召回你的灵魂了。那么，你所预备的要归谁呢？’

神卻對他說：『無知的人哪，今夜必要你的靈魂；你所預備的要歸誰呢？』

上帝卻對他說：『無知的人哪！今夜就要你的性命，你所預備的要歸誰呢？』

神卻對他說：『無知的人哪！今夜就要你的性命，你所預備的要歸誰呢？』

但上帝對他說，『無知的人啊！今晚就要取走你的命！你所預備的一切留給誰享用呢？』」

神卻對他說：‘無知的人哪，今天晚上，你的靈魂必被取去，你所預備的要歸給誰呢？’

但上帝卻對他說：「糊塗人哪，就在今天夜裏，你的財物就要要你的命了！你所豫備的、要歸誰呢？」

「可是神對他說：『你這愚妄的人哪！今夜，他們就要召回你的靈魂了。那麼，你所預備的要歸誰呢？』

惟上帝謂之曰、無知者乎、今夜將索爾靈、則所備者誰歸、

上帝曰、無知者乎、今夜將索爾魂、則所備者誰歸、

惟天主謂之曰、愚者乎、今夜將索爾靈、則所備者歸於誰、

詎天主謂之曰：「愚人、今夕欲索爾魂、爾之所備、將誰歸乎？」

“ But God said to him,‘ You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

But God said to him,‘ Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’

“ But God said to him,‘ You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

“ But God said to him,‘ You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared— whose will they be?’

But God said to him,‘ You fool! This very night your soul is demanded of you; and as for all that you have prepared, who will own it now?’

But God said to him,‘ Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?

“ But God said to him,‘ You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared— whose will they be?’

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?

But God said to him,‘ You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“ But God said to him,‘ You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared— whose will they be?’

Some people get rich by doing sinful things. They are like a partridge that hatches eggs it didn’t lay. When their lives are half over, their riches will desert them. In the end they will prove how foolish they have been.

People are only shadows as they go here and there. They rush around, but it doesn’t mean anything. They pile up wealth, but they don’t know who will finally get it.

What hope do ungodly people have when their lives are cut short? What hope do they have when God takes away their lives?

We didn’t bring anything into the world. We can’t take anything out of it.

Sinners might store up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay.But people who do what is right will wear those clothes. People who haven’t done anything wrong will divide up that silver.

You foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside also?

“ The time came when the beggar died. The angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.In the place of the dead, the rich man was suffering terribly. He looked up and saw Abraham far away. Lazarus was by his side.

So God will destroy you forever. He will grab you and pluck you from your tent. He will remove you from this life.Those who do what is right will see it and learn a lesson from it. They will laugh at you and say,“ Just look at this fellow! He didn’t depend on God for his safety. He put his trust in all his wealth. He grew strong by destroying others!”

They won’t take anything with them when they die. Their riches won’t go down to the grave with them.While they lived, they believed they were blessed. People praised them when things were going well for them.But they will die, like their people of long ago. They will never again see the light of life.

You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? It is a mist that appears for a little while. Then it disappears.

It’s also when wealth is lost because of an unwise business deal. Then there won’t be anything left for the owners’ children.Everyone is born naked. They come into the world with nothing. And they go out of it with nothing. They don’t get anything from their work that they can take with them.Here’s something else that is very evil. Everyone is born, and everyone dies. And what do they get for their work? Nothing. It’s like working for the wind.

Someone might get rich by taking interest or profit from poor people. But that person only piles up wealth for someone who will be kind to poor people.

He bragged to them about how rich he was. He talked about how many sons he had. He spoke about all the ways the king had honored him. He bragged about how the king had given him a high position. It was higher than the position of any of the other nobles and officials.

“ Here is what was written. mene, mene, tekel, parsin“ And here is what these words mean.“ The word Mene means that God has limited the time of your rule. He has brought it to an end.“ The word Tekel means that you have been weighed on scales. And you haven’t measured up to God’s standard.“ The word Peres means that your authority over your kingdom will be taken away from you. It will be given to the Medes and Persians.”Then Belshazzar commanded his servants to dress Daniel in purple clothes. So they did. They put a gold chain around his neck. And he was made the third highest ruler in the kingdom.That very night Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, was killed.

But even before they had finished eating, God acted. He did it while the food was still in their mouths.

His enemies will be tangled up among thorns. Their wine will make them drunk. They’ll be burned up like dry straw.

But suppose that slave is evil. Suppose he says to himself,‘ My master is staying away a long time.’Suppose he begins to beat the other slaves. And suppose he eats and drinks with those who drink too much.The master of that slave will come back on a day the slave doesn’t expect him. He will return at an hour the slave does not know.Then the master will cut him to pieces. He will send him to the place where pretenders go. There people will weep and grind their teeth.

That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther everything Haman had owned. Haman had been the enemy of the Jews. Esther had told the king that Mordecai was her cousin. So Mordecai came to see the king.The king took his ring off. It had his royal mark on it. He had taken it back from Haman. Now he gave it to Mordecai. And Esther put Mordecai in charge of everything Haman had owned.

I hated everything I had worked for on earth. I’ll have to leave all of it to someone who lives after me.And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Either way, they’ll take over everything on earth I’ve worked so hard for. That doesn’t have any meaning either.So I began to lose hope because of all my hard work on this earth.A person might use wisdom, knowledge and skill to do their work. But then they have to leave everything they own to someone who hasn’t worked for it. That doesn’t have any meaning either. In fact, it isn’t fair.What do people get for all their hard work on earth? What do they get for all their worries?

“ No matter how much they have, they always long for more. But their treasure can’t save them.There isn’t anything left for them to eat up. Their success won’t last.While they are enjoying the good life, trouble will catch up with them. Terrible suffering will come on them.When they’ve filled their stomachs, God will pour out his great anger on them. He’ll strike them down with blow after blow.

People will be saying that everything is peaceful and safe. Then suddenly they will be destroyed. It will happen like birth pains coming on a pregnant woman. None of the people will escape.

Zimri was one of Elah’s officials. He commanded half of Elah’s chariot drivers. He made plans against Elah. Elah was in Tirzah at the time. He was getting drunk in the home of Arza. Arza was in charge of the palace at Tirzah.Zimri came in. He struck Elah down and killed him. It was in the 27th year of Asa, the king of Judah. Zimri became the next king after Elah.

Absalom ordered his men,“ Listen! When Amnon has had too much wine to drink, I’ll say to you,‘ Strike Amnon down.’ When I do, kill him. Don’t be afraid. I’ve given you an order, haven’t I? Be strong and brave.”So Absalom’s men killed Amnon, just as Absalom had ordered. Then all the king’s sons got on their mules and rode away.

King Belshazzar gave a huge banquet. He invited a thousand of his nobles to it. He drank wine with them.While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to his servants. He commanded them to bring in some gold and silver cups. They were the cups his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Belshazzar had them brought in so everyone could drink from them. That included the king himself, his nobles, his wives and his concubines.So the servants brought in the gold cups. The cups had been taken from God’s temple in Jerusalem. The king and his nobles drank from them. So did his wives and concubines.As they drank the wine, they praised their gods. The statues of those gods were made out of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood or stone.Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared. They wrote something on the plaster of the palace wall. It happened near the lampstand. The king watched the hand as it wrote.His face turned pale. He was so afraid that his legs became weak. And his knees were knocking together.

It will happen very suddenly. A terrible death will take them away completely.

Wealth isn’t worth anything when God judges you. But doing what is right saves you from death.

Abigail went back to Nabal. He was having a dinner party in the house. It was the kind of dinner a king would have. He had been drinking too much wine. He was very drunk. So she didn’t tell him anything at all until sunrise.The next morning Nabal wasn’t drunk anymore. Then his wife told him everything. When she did, his heart grew weak. He became like a stone.About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal down. And he died.

Then Moses told Aaron,“ Talk to the whole community of Israel. Say to them,‘ Come to the Lord. He has heard you speak against him.’ ”While Aaron was talking to the whole community of Israel, they looked toward the desert. There was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud!