Beginning
Think before you speak
5 When you go to God's temple, be careful what you do. Listen carefully when you come near to God. Do not offer sacrifices in the way that foolish people do. They do not even know that they are doing something bad.
2 You should not speak too soon.
Think carefully before you make a promise to God.
God is in heaven and you are here on the earth.
So do not say too much.
3 If you worry about many things,
you will have many dreams.
If you talk too much,
you will say foolish things.
4 If you make a promise to God,
quickly do what you have promised.
God is not pleased with foolish people.
So give what you have promised to give.
5 It is better not to promise anything
than to promise something and then not do it.
6 Do not say things that cause you to do something wrong. Do not say to the priest, ‘My promise was a mistake.’ That would make God angry with you. He might destroy everything that you have worked to get for yourself. 7 If you dream all the time or if you talk all the time, that has no purpose. Instead, respect God and obey him.
Money does not make you happy
8 You may see a place where poor people are suffering. Powerful people may be hurting them. Do not be surprised if you see that. The judges may not be doing what is right and fair. That happens because the government's officers have to obey people who are more important than them. 9 All of them take something for themselves from the land. The king himself receives his share of the crops.
10 People who love money never have enough.
They may get more and more valuable things,
but they are never happy.
This also has no purpose.
11 As a person's money becomes more,
there are more people who want a share of it.
Money does not help the people who have a lot of it.
They see it, but it quickly disappears.
12 Someone who has worked hard all day will sleep well at night.
That is true even if they have not had much food to eat.
But the rich man worries about his riches.
So he does not sleep well.
13 I have seen another terrible thing that happens on the earth.
Some people may store their riches,
but it does not help them in a time of trouble.
14 Something may happen in the future
that causes their money to disappear.
After they die,
no money remains for their children.
15 When people are born,
they bring nothing with them.
When they die,
they take nothing away with them.
All their hard work finally leaves them with nothing.
16 This is also a terrible thing to happen.
People leave this earth with nothing,
as they came into it with nothing.
All their hard work has been useless,
like someone who tries to catch the wind.
17 Even if people are rich, they do not enjoy their food.
They suffer all through their lives.
They are upset, angry and sick.
18 But I realized that there is one good thing for people to do. We should be happy to eat and to drink. And we should enjoy the hard work that we do on the earth. That is what God wants us to do during the short time that he has given us on this earth. 19 God gives some people a lot of money and valuable things. He helps them to enjoy those things and to be happy with their work. All of this is a gift from God. 20 People like that do not think a lot about what has happened in their lives. God helps them to be happy as they are busy with their work.
6 I have seen another terrible thing that happens on the earth. It causes people to have a lot of trouble. 2 God may give someone lots of money and valuable things. People also respect that person. He has everything that he wants. He has worked hard to get them. But God does not allow him to enjoy those things. Instead, a stranger enjoys all that person's things. This has no purpose. It is a terrible thing to happen to someone.
3 Someone may have many children and he may live for a long time. But even if he lives until he is very old, he may not enjoy a good life. After he dies, people may not bury him with honour. His life would be useless. Even a child that is dead at birth is happier than that person. That is what I think. 4 The child's birth has no purpose. He immediately goes to a dark place. Nobody ever speaks his name. 5 He never sees the light of day. He never knows anything. But he enjoys more rest than that rich person. 6 A rich person might live for 2,000 years. But if he never enjoys his riches, it would be better if he died at birth. Remember that after death, we all go into our graves.
7 The reason people work so hard is to get food.
But they never have enough to eat.
8 Does a wise person have a better life than a foolish person?
No, he does not!
Does it help a poor person if he knows how to live well?
No!
9 It is good to enjoy the things that we have.
That is better than to want more things all the time.
If you always try to get more things, that has no purpose.
It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
10 Everything that is here today already has its name.
Everyone knows what we humans are like.
It is useless to argue with someone who is more powerful than we are.
11 If we talk too much,
we will say silly things.
So it will not help anyone to talk with many words.
12 Nobody knows the best way for us to live our lives.
We live for only a few years
and our lives seem to have no purpose.
Our lives quickly disappear, like a shadow.
Nobody can tell us what will happen on the earth after our death.
Learn about life and death
7 If people respect you as a good person,
that is better than expensive perfume.
The day of your death is better than the day of your birth.
2 If you go to a house where there is a funeral,
that is better for you than to go to a party.
Everyone will die one day.
People should think about death while they are still alive.
3 If you are sad,
that is better for you than to laugh all the time.
We learn more about ourselves when we are sad.
4 A wise person thinks about funerals and what they mean.
A foolish person thinks about how to enjoy a party.
5 If a wise person warns you, listen to him.
That is better for you than to listen to the songs of a foolish person.
6 If you use thorn bushes to make a fire,
they make a lot of noise but they burn too quickly.
When a foolish person laughs,
their noise also has no purpose.
7 If a wise person cheats people,
he becomes a fool.
If you accept a bribe,
you will no longer think properly.
8 If you finish some work,
that is better than to start something new.
It is better to be patient than to be proud.
9 Control your angry thoughts.
Only fools allow their anger to continue.
10 Do not say, ‘Everything was a lot better in the past.’
Those are not wise thoughts.
11 It is good to have wisdom,
like money that you receive from your father.
Wisdom helps everyone who lives.
12 Both wisdom and money can keep you safe.
But wisdom is better.
If you are wise, your knowledge can save your life.
13 Think about the things that God has done.
If God has bent something,
nobody can make it straight again.
14 If your life is good, you should be happy.
But if you have trouble, think about this:
God causes both joy and trouble in our lives.
We do not know what will happen next.
We can never know everything
15 In my short life on the earth
I have seen these things which have no purpose:
Sometimes righteous people may die when they are still young.
They did good things, but they died.
And sometimes wicked people continue to live for along time.
They did evil things, but they continued to live.
16 So do not try to be too good or too wise.
That might cause you to have trouble.
17 But do not be too wicked. Do not be a fool.
That might cause you to die when you are still young.
18 Remember both these things.
Do not forget either of them.
You can do that if you respect God and you obey him.[a]
19 Wisdom makes a wise person more powerful
than ten rulers in a city.
20 There is nobody on the earth who is so righteous
that they always do what is right.
There is nobody who never does a wrong thing.
21 Do not listen to all the things that people say about you.
You might hear your servant when he is cursing you!
22 Do not forget that you also have often cursed other people.
23 I have used wisdom to study all these things.
I tried very much to understand everything that happens.
But I could not do it.
24 People cannot understand these things.
The meaning of life is too difficult for anyone to understand.
25 I decided to study many things
so that I would become wise.
I wanted to understand the reason why things happen.
I also wanted to know why it is stupid to be wicked,
and why it is crazy to do foolish things.
26 I learned this:
Some women are like a trap that catches animals.
Women like that are more dangerous than death.
They may pretend to love you.
They may hold you in their arms.
But really their arms are like chains.
They want to catch you,
as hunters catch animals.
Women like that will easily catch
a man who has turned away from God.
But a man who pleases God
will escape from them.
27 This is what I, the Teacher, have learned.
I studied everything very carefully.
I wanted to know the reason why things happen.
28 I continued to try to learn more and more.
But I could not find the answers.
Among one thousand people,
I found one good man.
But among them all,
I did not find a good woman.
29 I did learn this:
God made people to do what is right.
But people have chosen their own way to do things.
8 This is what I know about people who are truly wise.
They know how to explain things.
Wisdom helps a person to be happy.
It causes them to smile even when they have trouble.
Obey the king
2 You promised God that you would serve the king faithfully.
So obey the king's commands.
3 If you are with the king,
do not leave in a hurry.
Do not join with people who plan turn against him.
Remember that the king can do anything that he wants to do.
4 The king's command has complete power.
Nobody can tell him that he is wrong.
5 Trouble will not come to anyone who obeys the king's command.
A wise person knows the right time to do things.
He also knows the right way to do them.
6 There is a right time for things to happen.
There is a right way to do things.
But trouble comes to people anyway.
7 Nobody knows what will happen in the future.
Nobody can tell us about it.
8 Nobody has the power to control the wind.
Also, nobody has the power to decide the day of their death.
Soldiers are not allowed to leave a battle.
Also, if people do wicked things,
that will not rescue them.
Things happen that are not fair
9 I saw all these things that happen on the earth. I thought about them a lot. I thought about the things that happen on the earth. I saw that people sometimes use their power to hurt other people.
10 I also saw that some wicked people receive honour after their death. Those wicked people had gone in and out of the holy place. People praised them in the city where they had done evil things. This also is difficult to understand.
11 People who are guilty should receive their punishment quickly. If that does not happen, other people also want to do evil things. 12 People who do lots of wicked things may live for a long time. But if someone respects and obeys God, they will surely enjoy a good life. 13 Wicked people will surely not enjoy a good life. Their lives will be like a shadow that quickly disappears. They do not respect God, so they will not live for a long time.
14 But this is something else that is difficult to understand: Sometimes righteous people suffer in the way the wicked people deserve. And sometimes wicked people enjoy the good things that righteous people deserve. I think that this is difficult to understand.
Enjoy life
15 So I think that we should enjoy our lives. People should be happy to eat, drink and enjoy their lives. That is the best thing for them to do. It will help them to enjoy the work that they do during their lives. That is the life which God has given them on the earth.
16 I tried very much to become wise. I wanted to understand the things that people do on the earth. People work in the day and in the night and they do not sleep. 17 I thought about everything that God has done. I realized that nobody understands everything that happens on the earth. Even if they try very much, they will not know everything. A wise person may say that he understands all these things. But really that is not possible.
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