Ecclesiastes 3:9-5:20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The God-Given Task
9 What gain have the workers from their toil?(A) 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.(B) 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.(C) 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it; God has done this so that all should stand in awe before him.(D) 15 That which is already has been, that which is to be already is, and God seeks out what has gone by.[a](E)
Judgment and the Future Belong to God
16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that, in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. 17 I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter and for every work.”(F) 18 I said to myself with regard to humans that God is testing[b] them to show that they are but animals.(G) 19 For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.(H) 20 All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.(I) 21 Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?(J) 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?(K)
4 Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them.(L) 2 And I commended the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive, 3 but better than both is the one who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.(M)
4 Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.(N)
5 Fools fold their hands
and consume their own flesh.(O)
6 Better is a handful with quiet
than two handfuls with toil
and a chasing after wind.(P)
7 Again, I saw vanity under the sun: 8 the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.(Q)
The Value of a Friend
9 Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up the other, but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?(R) 12 And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.
13 Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who will no longer take advice.(S) 14 One can indeed come out of prison to reign, even though born poor in the kingdom.(T) 15 I saw all the living who, moving about under the sun, follow that[c] youth who replaced the king;[d] 16 there was no end to all those people whom he led.[e] Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.(U)
Reverence, Humility, and Contentment
5 [f]Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools, for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.[g](V) 2 [h]Never be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.(W)
3 For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow.(X) 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it.(Y) 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words and destroy the work of your hands?
7 With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words,[i] but fear God.(Z)
8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.(AA) 9 But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a plowed field.[j]
10 The lover of money will not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth with gain. This also is vanity.(AB)
11 When goods increase, those who eat them increase, and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
12 Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not let them sleep.(AC)
13 There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,(AD) 14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. 15 As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil that they may carry away with their hands.(AE) 16 This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?(AF) 17 Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much anger and sickness and resentment.(AG)
18 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot.(AH) 19 Likewise, all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God.(AI) 20 For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.