For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins, or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight? There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest. The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor. Both small and great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.

The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest, lying down in death.

And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness. And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,

I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

One of His disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at His side.

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. He was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper to ask, “Lord, who is going to betray You?”

But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. ... Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath. Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done? He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.

They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches. No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God. For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice, that he should live on forever and not see decay. For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes. But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish. ... Do not be amazed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases. For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down. Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul—and men praise you when you prosper— he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day.

Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors! Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.

What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.” But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.

Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.

What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?