Beginning

Do What You Promise

5 Watch your steps as you go to the house of God. Go near and listen but do not give the gift of fools. For they do not know they are sinning. ² Do not hurry to speak or be in a hurry as you think what to tell God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth. So let your words be few. ³ For a dream comes with much work, and the voice of a fool comes with many words. ⁴ When you make a promise to God, do not be late in paying it, for He is not pleased with fools. Pay what you promise to pay! ⁵ It is better not to make a promise, than to make a promise and not pay it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth cause you to sin. And do not say to the one sent from God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of what you said, and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ For when there are many dreams, there are many empty words. Instead of this, honor God with fear.

Money and Honor Are of Little Worth

⁸ In one part of a land if you see a bad power held over the poor, and what is right and fair and good taken away, do not be surprised by what you see. For one leader watches over another leader, and more important leaders watch over them. ⁹ After all, a country does better with a king in power.

¹⁰ He who loves money will never have enough money to make him happy. It is the same for the one who loves to get many things. This also is for nothing. ¹¹ When there are more good things, there are also more people to eat them. So what does their owner get except to see them with his eyes? ¹² The sleep of the working man is pleasing, if he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not let him sleep.

¹³ There is something very wrong which I have seen under the sun: Riches being kept by the owner and he is hurt by them. ¹⁴ When those riches are lost because he used them in a wrong way, and he had become the father of a son, there was nothing left for him. ¹⁵ A man comes from his mother without clothing, and he will go as he came. He will take nothing from his work that he can carry in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is very wrong: As a man is born, this is the way he will leave. So what does the man get who works for the wind? ¹⁷ All his life he eats in darkness with much sorrow, sickness and anger.

¹⁸ This is what I have seen to be good and right: to eat and to drink and be happy in all the work one does under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him. For this is his reward. ¹⁹ As for every man to whom God has given riches and many good things, He has also given him the power to eat from them, receive his reward and be happy in his work. This is the gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not think much about the years of his life, because God keeps him happy in his heart.

6 There is another bad thing which I have seen under the sun, and it is hard for men: ² God gives a man riches and many good things and honor, so that he has everything he wants. But He does not allow him to have joy from them, for a stranger has joy from them. This is for nothing, and is very bad. ³ If a man becomes the father of a hundred children and lives many years until he is very old, but he is not happy with good things, and is not buried as he should be, then I say that the child who dies before it is born is shown more favor than he. ⁴ For this child comes for nothing and goes into darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. ⁵ It never sees the sun and it never knows anything. It is better off than he. ⁶ Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not find joy in good things, do not all go to the same place?

⁷ All a man’s work is for his mouth, and yet his hunger is not filled. ⁸ For what is better for the wise man than for the fool? And what good does the poor man have who knows how to walk among the living? ⁹ What the eyes see is better than what there is a desire for. This also is for nothing, like trying to catch the wind.

¹⁰ Whatever has come to be has already been given a name. It is known what man is, and that he cannot argue with one who is stronger than he. ¹¹ The more words there are, the more they are worth nothing. What good is that to anyone? ¹² For who knows what is good for a man during his life, during the few years of his living for nothing? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will happen after he is gone under the sun?

Wisdom Is Worth a Lot

7 A good name is better than oil of much worth. And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. ² It is better to go to a house of sorrow than to go to a house of much eating. For this is the end of all men, and the living takes it to heart. ³ To have sorrow is better than to laugh because when a face is sad, the heart may become strong. ⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of sorrow, while the heart of fools is in the house where there is fun. ⁵ It is better to listen to the sharp words of a wise man than to listen to the song of fools. ⁶ For the laughing of a fool is like the sound of a thorn bush burning under a pot. This also is for nothing. ⁷ For sure a bad power makes the wise man angry. And to get paid in secret for wrong-doing destroys the heart. ⁸ The end of something is better than its beginning. Not giving up in spirit is better than being proud in spirit. ⁹ Do not be quick in spirit to be angry. For anger is in the heart of fools. ¹⁰ Do not say, “Why were the days of the past better than these?” For it is not wise to ask this. ¹¹ Wisdom with a gift passed down from father to son is good and a help to those who see the sun. ¹² For wisdom keeps one from danger just as money keeps one from danger. But the good thing about much learning is that wisdom keeps alive those who have it. ¹³ Think of the work of God, for who is able to make straight what He has not made straight? ¹⁴ In the day of well-being be happy. But in the day of trouble, think about this: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man can never know what is going to happen.

¹⁵ In the days of my life I have seen everything, but my life has been worth nothing. There is a right and good man who is destroyed while he is right and good. And there is a sinful man who lives long in his wrong-doing. ¹⁶ Do not be too right and good, and do not be too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷ Do not be too sinful, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you take hold of one thing, and do not let go of the other. For the one who fears God will have both of them.

¹⁹ Wisdom gives more strength to a wise man than ten rulers have in a city. ²⁰ For sure there is not a right and good man on earth who always does good and never sins. ²¹ Do not listen to all the things that are said, or you might hear your servant cursing you. ²² For you know in your heart that many times you have cursed others.

²³ I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. ²⁴ Wisdom has been far away and hidden. Who can find it? ²⁵ I turned my mind to know, to find out, and to look for wisdom and the reason of things, and to know how sinful it is to be foolish, and that being mad is foolish. ²⁶ And I found that the woman whose heart is traps and nets, and whose hands are chains is more bitter than death. He who pleases God will get away from her. But the sinner will be taken in by her.

²⁷ “See, I have found this out,” says the Preacher. “I have added one thing to another to find the reason, ²⁸ which I am still looking for but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. ²⁹ See, I have found only this, that God made men right, but they have found many sinful ways.”

8 Who is like the wise man? And who understands the meaning of anything? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine. The hard look on his face is changed.

Obey the King

² I say, “Obey the words of the king because of the promise you made to God. ³ Do not be in a hurry to leave him. Do not join in wrong-doing, for he will do whatever he pleases.” ⁴ Since the king’s word is powerful, who will say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵ He who obeys the king’s law will have no trouble, for a wise heart knows the right time and way. ⁶ For there is a right time and way for everything, even if a man’s trouble is heavy upon him. ⁷ If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? ⁸ No man has the right and power to hold back the wind with the wind, or power over the day of his death. No man is free to leave in the time of war. And sin will not take the sinner out of trouble. ⁹ All this I have seen while thinking about every work that has been done under the sun. There is a time when one man has power over another man and makes him suffer.

Death Comes to Everyone

¹⁰ Then I saw the sinful buried, who used to go in and out of the holy place. They are soon forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is for nothing. ¹¹ Because a sinful act is not punished in a hurry, so the hearts of the sons of men are given completely over to sin. ¹² Even though a sinner does sinful things a hundred times and lives a long time, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, and let others know they fear God. ¹³ But it will not go well for the sinful man. His days will not be long like a shadow, because he does not fear God. ¹⁴ There is something that is of no use on the earth: There are right and good men who have the same thing happen to them that happens to those who do sinful things. And there are sinful men who have the same thing happen to them that happens to those who are right and good. I say this also is for nothing. ¹⁵ So I say a man should enjoy himself. For there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and drink and be happy. For this will be with him in his work through the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶ I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the work which has been done on the earth, not sleeping day or night. ¹⁷ And I saw all the work of God and knew that man cannot even think of all that is done under the sun. Even if man tries hard to find out, he will not be able to. Even if a wise man says he knows, he does not.