9-13 But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going. I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That’s it—eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It’s God’s gift.

14 I’ve also concluded that whatever God does, that’s the way it’s going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God’s done it and that’s it. That’s so we’ll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear.

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What do workers gain from their toil?(A) 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.(B) 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.(C) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom(D) what God has done from beginning to end.(E) 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink,(F) and find satisfaction(G) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.(H) 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that