Pleasures Are Meaningless

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.

I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.

For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

Wisdom

A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.

Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.

Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.