Beginning
Be Careful About Making Promises
5 Be careful when you go to worship at the Temple. It is better to listen than to offer foolish sacrifices. People who do this don’t even know they are doing wrong.
2 Think before you speak.
Be careful about what you promise to God.
God is in heaven,
and you are on the earth.
So say only a few words to God.
3 The saying is true: Bad dreams come from too much worrying.
So too many words come from foolish people.
4 If you make a promise to God, don’t be slow to keep it. God is not happy with foolish people. Give God what you promised. 5 It is better not to promise anything than to promise something and not do it. 6 So don’t let your words cause you to sin. Also, don’t say to the priest at the Temple, “I didn’t mean what I promised!” If you do, God will become angry with your words. He will destroy everything you have worked for. 7 Many empty promises are like many foolish dreams. They mean nothing. You should honor God.
Officers Cheat Each Other
8 In some countries you will see poor people treated badly. They are not treated fairly or given their rights. Don’t be surprised! One officer is cheated by a higher officer. They in turn are cheated by even higher officers. 9 The wealth of the country is divided up among them all. Even the king makes sure he gets his share of the profits.
Wealth Cannot Buy Happiness
10 The person who loves money
will never have all the money he wants.
The person who loves wealth
will not be satisfied when he gets it.
This is also useless.
11 The more wealth a person has,
the more friends he has to help him spend it.
So what does he really gain?
He gains nothing except to look at his riches.
12 A man who works hard sleeps in peace.
It is not important if he has little or much to eat.
But a rich person worries about his wealth.
He cannot sleep.
13 I have seen something unfair here on earth:
A person suffers harm from saving up his money.
14 Then he loses it all in a bad deal.
So he has nothing
to give to his son.
15 A person comes into this world with nothing.
And when he dies, he leaves with nothing.
In spite of all his hard work,
he leaves exactly as he came.
16 This, too, is unfair:
He leaves exactly as he came.
So what does he gain from chasing the wind?
17 All he gets are days filled with sadness and sorrow.
He ends up sick, defeated and angry.
Enjoy Your Life’s Work
18 I have seen what is best for a person to do here on earth. He should eat and drink and enjoy his work. This is because the life God has given him on earth is short. 19 God gives some people the ability to enjoy the wealth and property he gives them. He also gives them the ability to accept their state in life and enjoy their work. 20 Such people do not worry much about how short life is. This is because God keeps them busy with the things they love to do.
6 I have seen something else unfair here on earth. It causes serious problems for people. 2 God gives some people great wealth, riches and honor. They have everything they want. But God does not let them enjoy such things. Someone else enjoys them instead. This is unfair and senseless. 3 It is sad when a person can’t enjoy the good things God gives him. Such a person might have 100 children. He might live a long time. But what good is it if he can’t enjoy the good God gives him? I say a baby who is born dead is better off than he is. 4 It is useless for such a baby to be born. It ends up in the darkness of the grave without even a name. 5 That baby never saw the sun. It never knew anything. But it finds more rest than the person who never gets to enjoy the good things God gives him. 6 Even if he lives 2,000 years, it is sad if a person can’t enjoy the good things God gives him. After all, both he and the baby born dead go to the same place—the grave.
7 A person works just to feed himself.
But he never seems to get enough to eat.
8 In this way a wise man
is no better off than a foolish person.
Then, too, it does a poor man little good
to know how to get along in life.
9 So it is better to be happy with what you have
than always to be wanting more.
Always wanting more is useless—
like chasing the wind.
Who Can Understand God’s Plan?
10 Everything that happens was planned long ago.
A man is only what he was created to be.
It is useless to argue with God about it.
This is because God is more powerful than man is.
11 The more you argue,
the more useless it is.
You gain nothing at all by arguing.
12 A person has only a few days of life on the earth. His short life passes like a shadow. And who knows what is best for him while he lives? Who can tell him what will happen after his time on earth?
Some Benefits of Serious Thinking
7 It is better to have respect than good perfume.
The day a person dies is better than the day he was born.
2 It is better to go to a funeral
than to a party.
We all must die.
Everyone living should think about this.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter.
Sadness has a good influence on you.
4 A wise man thinks about death,
but a foolish person thinks only about having a good time.
5 It is better to be criticized by a wise man
than to be praised by a foolish person.
6 The laughter of foolish people is useless.
It is like heating a pot by burning straw.
There is a lot of fire but no heat.
7 Even a wise man will become foolish
if he lets money change his thinking.
8 It is better to finish something
than to start it.
It is better to be patient
than to be proud.
9 Don’t become mad quickly,
because getting angry is foolish.
10 Don’t ask, “Why was life better in the ‘good old days’?”
It is not wise to ask such questions.
11 Wisdom is as good to have as inheriting property.
It helps people see what to do.
12 Wisdom is like money.
They both help a person.
But wisdom is better than money,
because it can save a person’s life.
13 Stop and think about everything that God causes to happen.
You cannot change a thing,
even if you think it is wrong.
14 When life is good, enjoy it.
But when life is hard, remember:
God gives us good times and hard times.
And no one knows what tomorrow will bring.
It Is Impossible to Be Truly Good
15 In my short life I have seen both of these:
I have seen good men die being good.
And I have seen evil men living a long time.
16 Don’t try to be too right all the time.
Don’t try to be too wise, either.
Why should you destroy yourself this way?
17 Don’t be too wicked.
And don’t be a foolish person.
You will die young if you do so.
18 Try to avoid going too far in doing anything.
Those who honor God will avoid doing too much of anything.
19 Wisdom gives a person strength.
One wise man is stronger than ten leaders in a city.
20 Surely there is not a good man on earth
who always does good and never sins.
21 Don’t listen to everything people say.
You might hear your servant insulting you.
22 You know that many times
you also have insulted others.
23 I used wisdom to test all these things.
I wanted to be wise,
but it was too hard for me.
24 I cannot understand why things are as they are.
It is too hard for anyone to understand.
25 I studied and tried very hard to find wisdom.
I tried to find some meaning for everything.
I learned that it is foolish to be evil.
And it is crazy to act like a fool.
26 I found that some women are worse than death.
They are as dangerous as traps.
Their love is like a net.
Their arms hold men like chains.
A man who follows God will run away from them.
But a sinner will be caught by them.
27 The Teacher says, “This is what I learned:
I added all these things together
to see if I could find some meaning for everything.
28 I am still looking for it,
but I have not found it.
But I did discover that truly good people are hard to find.
Such people are one in a million!
29 One thing I have learned:
God made people good.
But people have found all kinds of ways to be bad.”
Obey the King
8 No one is like the wise man.
He can understand what things mean.
His wisdom makes him happy.
It makes his sad face happy.
2 I advise you always to obey the king’s command. Do this because you made a promise to God. 3 Don’t be too quick to quit the job the king gave you. But don’t support something that is wrong. Remember, the king does whatever he pleases. 4 The king is the highest power. No one can tell him what to do.
5 A person will be safe if he obeys the king’s command.
A wise man knows how to do the right thing at the right time.
6 And there is a right time and a right way for everything.
Yet people often have many troubles.
7 They do not know what the future holds.
No one can tell them what will happen.
8 No one has the power to keep the wind from blowing.
No one has the power to stop his own death.
During war a soldier cannot go home.
So also, the person who does evil will not get away free.
Justice, Rewards and Punishment
9 I saw all of this as I studied. I considered all that is done here on earth. And I saw men rule others and hurt them. 10 I saw evil people being buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place. Good things were said about them in the same towns where they had done evil. This is senseless, too.
11 Sometimes people are not punished right away for the bad things they do. That makes other people want to do bad things, too. 12 A sinner might do a hundred evil things. And he might live a long time. Even so, I know it will be better for those who honor God. They fear him, and he sees it. 13 And I also know it will not go well for evil people. Their lives will be like a brief shadow. They will not live very long. 14 But sometimes something senseless happens on earth. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. This is truly senseless. 15 So I decided it was more important to enjoy life. The best that people can do here on earth is to eat, drink and enjoy life. These joys will help people do the hard work God gives them here on earth.
We Cannot Understand All God Does
16 I used my mind to learn about all that happens on earth. I saw how busy people are. They work day and night and hardly ever sleep. 17 I also saw all that God has done. Nobody can understand what God does here on earth. No matter how hard a person tries to understand it, he cannot. Even if a wise man says he understands, he really cannot. No one at all can really understand it.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.