James & Ecclesiastes - What is Wisdom?

[SilverFox7]

Chapter 9 of Ecclesiastes is a beautiful blend of poetry and prose. The first part focuses on Solomon’s fixation with death once again. Notice the way the verse is structured to emphasize key words and concepts:

Ecclesiastes 9

New King James Version

1 For I [a]considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. 2 All things come alike to all:

One event happens to the
righteous and the wicked;
To the [b]good, the clean, and the
unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him
who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he
who fears an oath.

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5 For the living know that they
will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more
reward,
For the memory of them is
forgotten.
6 Also their love, their hatred,
and their envy have now
perished;
Nevermore will they have a
share
In anything done under the
sun.

7 Go, eat your bread with joy,
And drink your wine with a
merry heart;
For God has already accepted
your works.
8 Let your garments always be
white,
And let your head lack no oil.

 

[SilverFox7]

1 For I [a]considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God.

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all.

5 For the living know that they
will die;
But the dead know nothing,
And they have no more
reward,
For the memory of them is
forgotten.

Solomon seems filled with conflict and strikes me as a basket case spiritually at this point in his life. He makes the conclusion “…that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God,” on the one hand, yet says right after: “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all… For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.” If everything that “happens under the sun” is ultimately “in the hand of God,” why should we be worried about the struggles of life and the prospect of the grave that lies ahead?

Yes, we know we are going to die, and death is our enemy no doubt. All the elements that make up our physical bodies will eventually cease to function and return to the dust from whence it came. And, those who are not the Lord’s are in the grave, don’t know anything, there is no reward, and many of them are completely forgotten by human history.

We know from a New Testament perspective, however, that is not the case for Christians who have their hope and faith in Jesus Christ. We are far from forgotten, and our inheritance is sure. And while Solomon didn’t have knowledge of the New Covenant of the future apparently, God revealed it to some during Old Testament times like David (referenced in previous postings) and Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 37:1-3

New King James Version

The Dry Bones Live

1 The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know....”

9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the [a]breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and [b]breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ”

 

[SilverFox7]

For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.”

It doesn't appear that Solomon believed in or had hope in the resurrection. He says, "...the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Ecc. 12:7), but what that means is abstract at best. For example, if our spirit returns to God at death, why would he also say "the dead know nothing?"

If our life in the flesh, our bodies and brains that store all our memories, perish into the grave, does that somehow mean our souls that return to God at death have no memory of the life we lived as human beings? So, at death, our bodies and "very dry" bones are in the "grave" knowing "nothing", having no "reward", and we are "forgotten?" But, our "spirit" returns to God?

There are many perspectives on the resurrection of the dead and our life after death with the Lord forever, but the Bible is very clear there are resurrections. As Peter emphasized:

Acts 2:25-35

New King James Version

1 For David says concerning Him:

‘I foresaw the Lord always
before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that
I may not be shaken.

26 Therefore my heart rejoiced,
and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will
rest in hope.

27 For You will not leave my soul
in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy
One to see corruption.

28 You have made known to me
the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy
in Your presence.’

29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, [a]according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.

32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted [b]to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. 34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your enemies Your
footstool.” ’

Jesus makes it very clear that He was going to be resurrected, “I am the resurrection and life” (John 11:25), there was going to be another “resurrection of the dead” (Matt. 22:29-32), and He adds an interesting twist to the verses Peter quoted above from Psalm 110 verse 1:

Matthew 22:41-45

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”

They said to Him, “The Son of David.”

43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your
footstool” ’?

45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

 

[SilverFox7]

1 For David says concerning Him:

‘I foresaw the Lord always
before my face,
For He is at my right hand, that
I may not be shaken.

26 Therefore my heart rejoiced,
and my tongue was glad;
Moreover my flesh also will
rest in hope.

27 For You will not leave my soul
in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy
One to see corruption.

28 You have made known to me
the ways of life;
You will make me full of joy
in Your presence.’

Peter’s quote from Psalm 16 verses 8-11 is very powerful, and it must have come from some different source material than the verses from Psalms (check out the different language used between the two versions from Acts and Psalms):

Psalm 16:8-11

New King James Version

8 I have set the Lord always
before me;
Because He is at my right hand
I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and
my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will [a]rest in hope.

10 For You will not leave my soul
in [b]Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy
One to [c]see corruption.

11 You will show me the path of
life;
In Your presence is fullness of
joy;
At Your right hand are
pleasures forevermore.

Note the use again of key words offset in the verse to emphasize and highlight important truths. Unlike Solomon, David rejoices in the life, joy, and pleasures forevermore in the Lord. Of course as Peter makes clear, David wrote this about his Lord who would spend three days and three nights in Sheol (aka. Hades), the grave, the abode of the dead. Notice how Jesus reveals that David was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that lived within him as he composed these beautiful psalms, songs of praise to our Holy God: “David in the Spirit” expresses his love for the Lord, it flows out of him as rivers of Living Water.

Peter refers to David as a patriarch and prophet, too. One of the areas I just don’t get yet is the disparity between David and Solomon when it comes to their theology and their relationship with the Lord. David adored God. The Lord said David was a man after His own heart (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). And, look at the spiritual insight David was blessed with to receive a taste of God’s plan of salvation. Solomon, on the other hand, was given worldly wisdom on how to govern the nation and live a proper life in our homes and communities. Jesus commends Solomon to some degree, but not like His beloved David:

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matt. 6:28-29).

“The queen of the South will rise up in the judgement with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a great than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42)

 

[SilverFox7]

I just love this next section of Ecclesiastes 9. Solomon certainly had his character flaws, but he was one “hell” of a writer. And, the way he mixes poetry and prose together is masterful. He’s like a chef who knows how to choose the perfect ingredients and cooking tactics blended together to create a delicious dish.

Ecclesiastes 9:9-12

New King James Version

9 [a]Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
11 I returned and saw under the sun that—

The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of
understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen
to them all.

12 For man also does not know
his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared
in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon
them.

There is a lot of practical wisdom packed into these verses. Time and chance does happen to all of us. God didn’t create the cruelty and evil that fills this world. That was our choice in the Garden of Eden. We chose a mortal life filled with good and evil instead of partaking from the Tree of Life. Like Satan, we thought we knew better than God and didn’t listen to the clear warning we were given.

Talk about getting caught in a snare “when it falls suddenly upon them”, look at what happened to Iran on Friday. They were caught completely off guard even though they were clearly warned for months if not years that Israel would strike them if they continued to pursue nuclear weapons.

I remember sitting and watching the horrifying 2nd hurricane coverage in early October last year and flipping over to Fox to stay caught up on the crazy political and world news taking place then, too. I believe it was the defense minister from Israel who said with sternness and conviction that if Iran didn’t scrap their nuclear weapons’ program, Israel would take it out like they did to Syria in 2018. He said that Hamas and Hezbollah had been neutralized, and there was a clear and direct path to Iran if they didn’t change course. The gauntlet was laid down in plain sight.

Trump also gave the Iranians 60 days, and all they did was use delay tactics like Putin is doing. Now, “like fish taken in a cruel net,” that viscous and brutal regime in Iran got knocked flat on their faces. We’ll see how far their craziness will go from here. Pride doesn’t learn, and vengeance is the objective. Iran may be dumb enough to attack our troops over there and have their infrastructure and country leveled in response by two of the most powerful military arsenals on this planet.

My point is not to get political here but to illustrate the “wisdom of Solomon.” In a matter of moments, over 200 people died in that jet crash in India, and there is only one survivor. Why did he live and the rest of the passengers died? It’s time and chance and, yes, God does intervene at times, probably a lot more than we realize. How that soul survived that explosive crash that sent a fireball hundreds of feet into the sky is miraculous. We just can’t understand these type of mysteries and tragedies, even as God’s people. Those answers probably won’t become clear until after the grave.

Life can change in an instant. We can go from excitement of getting back home to England on a flight to sheer terror at the turbulent descent into the jaws of the Grim Reaper. Precious lives are lost in an instant. Why me, Lord? Why am I the only survivor? What about my brother and all of the other passengers whose lives were extinguished by “Time and Chance?” It’s a miracle I survived, but why me? Why didn’t You extend that miracle to others? I have a partial answer to that question at best, but ultimately God is the only One who sees the full picture. My trust and faith are in Him during volatile times like these.

 

[SilverFox7]

Luke 13:1-5

New King James Version

Repent or Perish

13 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had [a]mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Those 18 souls who perished when the tower of Siloam fell on them were in the wrong place at the wrong time (time and chance). The message from Jesus is simple here, repent. Did Solomon repent and is there any hope for him in the afterlife? I believe there is, but there are different opinions on this matter because the evidence from scripture is a little foggy.

A close friend of mine and I traveled down to Indiana from Michigan to visit a foundry supplier of ours. He told me that he upgraded his Google AI assistant, and he was even able to give “her” an Australian accent. I said, so is she like a girlfriend now? How does your wife feel about this “relationship”? It is a brave new world we are living in, folks.

I told my friend that I had a question for his girlfriend whose mind is driven by ones and zeroes, pure logic. He turned his phone towards me and I asked, “Did Solomon ever come to a level of repentance?” I was stunned by the answer and felt like we had 5 scholars and 5 theologians riding in the car with us. In summary, the AI generated response came back with “while there isn’t any specific evidence that Solomon repented, the book of Ecclesiastes alludes to Solomon repenting from his sins.”

I have to agree with that conclusion after doing this deep dive into Solomon’s mind. He did some really stupid things, and his experiment of excess had tragic consequences. Later in life when the crap hit the fan, he looks with honesty and sorrow at the sins he committed. And, he was willing to share all of that with all who came after him, including us, so that we could learn from his mistakes. It’s learning through revelation versus experimentation.

“Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him” (Ecc. 8:12).

 

[SilverFox7]

9 [a]Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity;

This is interesting advice from a king who had 700 wives and 300 concubines; talk about amplifying an out of control husband and wives' roller coaster ride. I can't even imagine the drama in the royal palace. However, Solomon tells us that we should "live joyfully with the wife [singular] with whom you love." My wife and I are coming up on our 30th anniversary this year, and it has been a joy. I married my best friend, and we enjoy being together, spending time with our families, and doing simple things like watching comedies and a lot of sports. It hasn't been perfect, but I can't imagine life without her.

While there are instances of patriarchs like Abraham and David who had multiple wives, that is not what God intended, and it certainly isn't ideal. The drama in my marriage with our two large families is beyond tolerance at times, and I can't imagine adding more wives and family dynamics into the equation. Solomon probably didn't have any hair left in his head towards the end. Adam was given one wife in the Garden, and they were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). God laid out the plan for marriage right in the beginning. The two shall become one.

Marriage is considered one of the sacraments in orthodox churches, and Jesus was quite clear where he stood on this matter:

Matthew 19:3-9

New King James Version

3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who [a]made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for [b]sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

Much more to come later on this important matter of marriage, but I have a weekend filled with my wife and our families. My side is coming together tonight to comfort, mourn, and support an aunt who may only have a short time to live in advanced stages of lung cancer (she never smoked a day in her life). This life should be lived with joy and thankfulness all the vain days of our temporary existence, and we need to enjoy the time we share together with loved ones because that time is fleeting.

Shalom brethren.

 

[SilverFox7]

Perched above the small congregation gathered in my cousin’s church for their wedding ceremony, the fire-breathing pastor exclaimed, “’Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord’ (Eph. 5:22). Submit and obey!” My agnostic mother and aunt gasped, turned white as ghosts, and just about fell out of the pew. They almost got up and stormed out of the service.

I don’t remember the pastor emphasizing with equal or greater fervor, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (v. 25). That wedding ceremony took place in a staunch Missouri Synod Lutheran church out in the farmlands of Southeast Michigan, and in that part of my family, the husband was the literal head of the household. Wives were expected to submit to their husbands, and children were to be seen and not heard. Life on the farm back then was six days of hard labor for the entire household.

It's amazing how some twist scripture and pull verses out of context that benefit those who hold the power while subjecting those who are expected to obey their commands to serve and submit. In this section of Ephesians 5, Paul is talking about ideals in Christian relationships:

Ephesians 5:18-24

New King James Version

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

There is an order of command in God’s kingdom from the Father to the Son down to the Church, and that holds true in an ideal marriage where “the husband is the head of the wife” who should be subject “…to their own husbands in everything.” Paul is pretty straight-forward here, but the entire context of Paul’s message needs to be considered:

28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, [a]of His flesh and of His bones.

31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

The guiding power of any successful marriage is love, and as husbands, we are encouraged to love our wives as our “own bodies.” It is unconditional love that looks out for the best interests of our wives, and we should nurture, protect, and provide safety, stability, and selfless love.

It’s not a one-way authoritarian relationship where “I rule and you drool.” No, Paul leads into this section by saying we should “be filled with the Spirit…giving thanks always…[and] submitting to one another in the fear of God.” Solomon sums it all up very well, “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love…” (Ecc. 9:9).

 

[SilverFox7]

Solomon sums it all up very well, “Live joyfully with the wife whom you love…” (Ecc. 9:9).

After the deep dive into the more sobering aspects of this vain existence in Ecclesiastes, Solomon looks at the brighter side of the joy and fulfillment of intimate relationships. It appears that later in life after having “it all” with a slew of women at his beckoned call, Solomon reflects back to a time when he met his first wife perhaps and the passionate love in that fresh relationship during their youth.

The Song of Solomon that follows Ecclesiastes in the “writings” is one huge love poem. It stands in stark contrast to the overall woe begotten tone of the “preacher” to a lover who is head over heals in ecstatic exuberance of elation and joy towards his beloved. He says to her, “Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with chains of gold” (SOS 1:10). She responds, “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, that lies all night between my breasts” (v. 13). Erotic love is projected in the beautiful imagery, but it also transcends into more of an agape tone.

The Shulamite cries out, “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills” (SOS 2:8). The bridegroom responds, “Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away!” (v. 13). I have images of the return of our Lord as the Bridegroom “leaping upon the mountains” towards His lover, the Church. “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love” (v. 4).

It is widely accepted that the Song of Solomon is not just a literal poetic song of love between the bridegroom and the beloved; it’s also an allegory of the love Christ has for His Church. At His return, the great banquet in heaven will take place at the marriage supper of the Lamb to His bride, the Church, and the “banner over [us]” will be “love”.

Paul references this in Ephesians 5, and he brings marriage to the next level. Like Jesus, he points back to Genesis, but the real purpose of marriage gets elevated to divine status:

Ephesians 5:29-33

New King James Version

29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, [a]of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

The unity of a husband and wife that takes place at marriage, “the two shall become one flesh”, represents the marriage that will take place between Christ and the Church. The “two shall become one”, atonement between Christ and His bride. That’s the “mystery” Paul is focused on here. Christ loves the Church, and we respect, submit, and learn to love Christ in return, striving for unity and at-one-ment in our relationships with one another and with our Bridegroom.

 

[CalledByChrist]

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to add it to a fruit salad.

We can know all things, but wisdom will guide you to avoid half of what you know.

 

[SilverFox7]

let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself

While submission is a theme of Paul’s marriage commentary and is essential for functional and happy relationships, “submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Eph 5:21), Paul is much more focused on love and why that is the foundational ingredient for a successful marriage:

Ephesians 5:25-27

New King James Version

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might [a]sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

We as the Church are being set apart and cleansed by the word of Christ. Water is a type of the Holy Spirit, and we are being washed internally to be holy and without blemish, preparing for marrying our beloved Bridegroom at His return:

Revelation 19:6-9

New King James Version

6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the[a] Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

Christ is looking forward to this climatic event as much as we are, and during the last supper when Jesus shared wine with His disciples for the last time, He told them, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom” (Matt 26: 29). We look with great anticipation for this transforming union, and we are preparing for it with the help of the Holy Spirit, purifying and empowering Oil.

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom [a]is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour [b]in which the Son of Man is coming.