不要说：先前的日子强过如今的日子，是什么缘故呢？你这样问，不是出于智慧。

不要说：为什么先前的日子强过现今的日子呢？你这样问不是出于智慧。

不要说：为什么先前的日子强过现今的日子呢？你这样问不是出于智慧。

不要问为什么过去比现在好，因为这样问不明智。

你不要说：“为什么从前的日子胜过现在的呢？”你这样问，不是出于智慧。

不要说：“为什么先前的日子好过现在的日子呢？”因为你这样问不是出于智慧。

不要說：先前的日子強過如今的日子，是甚麼緣故呢？你這樣問，不是出於智慧。

不要說：為甚麼先前的日子強過現今的日子呢？你這樣問不是出於智慧。

不要說：為甚麼先前的日子強過現今的日子呢？你這樣問不是出於智慧。

不要問為什麼過去比現在好，因為這樣問不明智。

你不要說：“為甚麼從前的日子勝過現在的呢？”你這樣問，不是出於智慧。

你不要說：『為甚麼先前的日子比如今這些日子好呢？』因為你問到這事、並不是出於智慧。

不要說：「為什麼先前的日子好過現在的日子呢？」因為你這樣問不是出於智慧。

勿謂今不如古何耶、詢此、乃不智也、

勿是古非今、而尚論其事、此非智者所為也。

爾勿問云、緣何今日不如昔日、爾如是問、則非出於智慧、

Do not say,“ Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.

Don’t say,“ Why were things better in the good old days?” It isn’t wise to ask that kind of question.

Say not,“ Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

Don’t long for“ the good old days.” This is not wise.

Don’t say,“ Why were the former days better than these?” since it is not wise of you to ask this.

Do not say,“ Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

Do not say,“ Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

Don’t say,“ Why were the former days better than these?” since it is not wise of you to ask this.

Say not thou, What is[ the cause] that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

Do not say,“ Why were the old days better than these days?” for it is not wise to ask that.

Don’t say,“ Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this.

“ Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied,“ but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said,‘ Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” (niv)

We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm.But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”The women added,“ When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?” (niv)

Although they claimed to be wise, they became foolsand exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator— who is forever praised. Amen.Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (niv)

What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.As it is written:“ There is no one righteous, not even one;there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”“ Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”“ The poison of vipers is on their lips.”“ Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”“ Their feet are swift to shed blood;ruin and misery mark their ways,and the way of peace they do not know.”“ There is no fear of God before their eyes.”Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. (niv)

The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. (niv)

This is what the Lord says:“ Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away. (niv)

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. (niv)