Beginning
9 I applied myself to all of this, sifted through it and concluded that the righteous and the wise, along with their deeds, are in God’s hands — a person cannot know whether these people and deeds will be rewarded with love or with hatred; all options are open. 2 Anything can happen to anyone; the same thing can happen to the righteous as to the wicked, to the good and clean and to the unclean, to someone who offers a sacrifice and to someone who doesn’t offer a sacrifice; it is the same for a good person as for a sinner, for someone who takes an oath rashly as for someone who fears to take an oath. 3 This is another evil among all those done under the sun, that the same events can occur to anyone. Truly, the human mind is full of evil; and as long as people live, folly is in their hearts; after which they go to be with the dead. 4 For as long as a person is linked with the living, there is hope — better to be a living dog than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; there is no longer any reward for them, because all memory of them is lost. 6 What they loved, what they hated and what they envied all disappeared long ago, and they no longer have a share in anything done under the sun.
7 So go, eat your bread with joy,
and drink your wine with a happy heart,
for God has already accepted your deeds.
8 Let your clothing always be white,
and never fail to perfume your head.
9 Enjoy life with the wife you have loved throughout your meaningless life that he has given you under the sun, all the days of your futility; for that is your allotted portion in life and in your labor that you work at under the sun. 10 Whatever task comes your way to do, do it with all your strength; because in Sh’ol, where you will go, there is neither working nor planning, neither knowledge nor wisdom.
11 Yet another thing I observed under the sun is that races aren’t won by the swift or battles by the strong, and that food doesn’t go to the wise or wealth to the intelligent or favor to the experts; rather, time and chance rule them all. 12 For people don’t know when their time will come any more than fish taken in the fatal net or birds caught in a snare; similarly, people are snared at an unfortunate time, when suddenly it falls on them.
13 Here is something else I have seen as wisdom under the sun, and it seemed important to me: 14 there was a small town with few people in it; and a great king came to attack it; he surrounded it and built massive siege-works against it. 15 Now there was found in it a man who was poor but wise, and by his wisdom he saved the city; yet afterwards, nobody remembered that poor man. 16 So, although I say that wisdom is better than strength, nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised; nobody pays attention to what he says.
17 A wise man speaking quietly is more worth heeding
than the shouts of a ruler commanding fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but a person who makes a mistake can destroy much good.
10 Just as dead flies make perfumed oil stink,
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
2 A wise man’s heart leads him rightly,
but a fool’s heart leads him astray;
3 and when a fool travels, he has no good sense,
thus showing everyone that he is a fool.
4 If a ruler gets angry at you, stay at your post,
because calmness soothes great offenses.
5 Another evil I have seen under the sun,
the kind of mistake rulers make, is that
6 fools are promoted to high positions,
while the rich occupy humble places.
7 I have seen servants riding horses,
while princes walk on foot like slaves.
8 He who digs a pit may fall into it;
he who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.
9 He who quarries stones may get hurt by them,
he who chops wood puts himself in danger.
10 If the [hatchet’s] iron [blade] is blunt,
and [its user] doesn’t sharpen it,
he will have to exert more effort;
but the expert has the advantage of his skill.
11 If a snake bites before it is charmed,
the snake-charmer has no advantage.
12 The words spoken by the wise bring them favor,
but the lips of a fool swallow him up.
13 What he says starts with foolishness
and ends with wicked madness.
14 A fool keeps talking and talking,
yet no one knows what the future will bring —
can anyone tell a person
what will happen after he’s gone?
15 The efforts of a fool wear him out;
he doesn’t even know the way to town!
16 Woe to you, land, when your king is a child,
and your leaders start their parties in the morning!
17 Happy are you, land, when your king is well-born,
and your princes eat at the proper time,
in order to stay strong, not to get drunk!
18 When the owner is lazy, the roof sags;
when hands are idle, the house leaks.
19 Parties are made for having a good time,
wine adds cheer to life,
and money has an answer for everything.
20 Don’t insult the king, not even in your thoughts;
and don’t insult the wealthy, not even in your bedroom;
for a bird in the air might carry the news,
a creature with wings might repeat what you said.
11 Send your resources out over the seas;
eventually you will reap a return.
2 Divide your merchandise into seven or eight shares,
since you don’t know what disasters may come on the earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth.
Whether a tree falls toward the north or the south,
the place where the tree falls is where it stays.
4 He who keeps watching the wind will never sow;
he who keeps looking at the clouds will never reap.
5 Just as you don’t know the way of the wind
or how bones grow in a pregnant woman’s womb,
so you don’t know the work of God,
the maker of everything.
6 In the morning, sow your seed;
and don’t slack off until evening;
for you don’t know which sowing will succeed,
this, or that, or if both will do well.
7 Then the light will be sweet,
and it will be a pleasure to see the sun.
8 For if a person lives many years,
let him take joy in them all;
yet remembering that there will be many days of darkness,
that all to come is futile.
9 Young person, if you spend your youth only having fun,
if you use your early years just to entertain yourself,
if you follow your heart as you live your life,
and let your eyes be your guide;
understand that for all these things
God will bring you to judgment.
10 Therefore, remove anger from your heart;
and keep from harming your body;
for neither adolescence nor youth
has any lasting value.
12 So remember your creator while you are young,
before the evil days come,
and the years approach when you will say,
“They no longer give me pleasure”;
2 before the sun and the light grow dim,
also the moon and the stars;
before the clouds return after the rain;
3 on the day when the guards of the house are trembling,
and men of courage are bent over double;
when the women stop grinding grain,
because there are so few;
when the women at the windows
can no longer see out;
4 when the doors to the streets are kept shut;
when the noise from the grain-mill fades;
when a person is startled by the chirp of a bird,
yet their singing is hard to hear;
5 when they will be afraid to go up a hill,
and terrors will stalk the way,
even though the almond tree is in bloom;
when the locust can only drag itself along,
and the caper berry has no [aphrodisiac] effect —
because the person is headed for his eternal home,
and the mourners are already gathering
in the marketplace —
6 before the silver cord is snapped
the bowl of gold is cracked,
the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
the pulley is broken at the cistern,
7 the dust returns to earth, as it was,
and the spirit returns to God, who gave it!
8 Pointless! Meaningless! — says Kohelet,
Nothing matters at all!
9 Not only was Kohelet wise, he also taught the people what he knew; also he weighed, researched and corrected many ethical sayings. 10 Kohelet worked to develop an attractive writing style, in which he expressed the truth straightforwardly. 11 The sayings of the wise are as sharp as goads, and those given by leaders of assemblies are like well-fixed nails; [in this case,] they are presented by a single shepherd. 12 In addition, my son, take heed: one can write many books — there’s no end to it; and one can study so much that it wearies the flesh.
13 Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about. 14 For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad.
[Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about.]
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.