Bible in 90 Days

¹⁵ Whatever is happening now has happened before.
    Everything that will happen in the future has already happened.
God causes the same things to happen again and again.^[a]

Judges should choose what is right,
    but instead they choose what is wicked.
They should decide what is fair,
    but they do evil things.

‘One day, God will judge everyone,
    righteous people and wicked people.
He has chosen a time for everything.
    So there is a right time when he will judge people.’

I saw some people who were crying because cruel people were hurting them.
    There was nobody who could help them.
    Nobody could rescue them from those cruel people.
² I thought about people who are already dead.
    I decided that they are happier than the people who are still alive.
³ But people who have not yet been born are even happier!
    They have not seen the evil things that happen on the earth.

⁵ Foolish people refuse to work.
    They sit and they do nothing.
    So they become hungry and they die.
⁶ It is good to have only a little food and be happy.
    That is better than too much hard work that gives you a lot of food.
    It is as useless as somebody who tries to catch the wind.

⁸ There are people who live alone.
    They have no friends, children or brothers.
They work hard every day.
    They want to get more riches for themselves.
    But they are never happy with the things that they have.
They should ask themselves, ‘Why am I working so hard?
    Am I helping anybody?
    I am not doing things that make me happy.’
Their work has no purpose. It only brings trouble to their lives.

⁹ Two people who work together
    are better than one person who works alone.
    They can help each other to work well.
¹⁰ If one of them falls down,
    his friend can help him to get up.
But it is terrible if you fall down when you are alone.
    There is nobody who can help you to stand up again.
¹¹ Also, if two people sleep together,
    they help each other to be warm.
But if you sleep alone,
    it is difficult to be warm.
¹² If you are alone, one person might attack you and hurt you.
    But two people together can help each other to win the fight.
If you use three strings to make a rope,
    it is difficult for anyone to break it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The runner who runs fastest does not always win the race.
The strongest soldiers do not always win the battle.
Very wise people do not always have food to eat.
Very clever people do not always become rich.
People who have learned many things are not always successful.
Yes, anything may happen to anyone at any time.
¹² Nobody knows the time when trouble may come to them.
    A fish does not know when somebody will catch it in a net.
    A bird does not know when somebody will catch it in a trap.
In the same way, terrible trouble suddenly happens to people when they do not expect it.

¹⁷ A wise person speaks quietly.
    But it is good to listen carefully to him.
His words have more value than a king
    who is shouting to a crowd of fools.
¹⁸ Wisdom is better than weapons that are used to fight a war.
But one bad person can destroy many good things.

10 A few dead flies in a bottle of perfume cause it to have a bad smell.
In the same way, one foolish thing can destroy a lot of wisdom.
² If you are wise,
    you know the right way to go.
But a fool is stupid and he goes the wrong way.
³ Even when fools walk along the road,
    they show that they are stupid.
Everyone can see that they are not wise.
⁴ If your master becomes angry with you,
    do not leave your place.
Be patient and answer him quietly.
    Then he will forgive your mistakes.

⁵ I have seen another terrible thing that happens on the earth.
    It happens when a ruler does a silly thing.
⁶ A ruler may give fools too much authority.
    At the same time, rich people have no authority.
⁷ Slaves ride on horses, as important people do.
    At the same time, princes have to walk, as slaves do.

⁸ If you dig a deep hole, you might fall into it.
    If you knock down a wall, a snake might bite you.
⁹ If you cut stones out of the ground, a stone might hurt you.
    If you cut wood into pieces, a piece of it might hurt you.
¹⁰ If your axe is not sharp,
    you will need to be very strong to use it.
If you are wise, you will make the axe's edge sharp again.
    That is how wisdom helps you to do things well.
¹¹ Someone may have power over dangerous snakes.
    But that will not help him if the snake bites him first.

¹² People respect a wise person,
    because of the things that he says.
But the words of a fool will destroy him.
¹³ When a fool starts to speak,
    he says silly things.
When he finishes,
    he is saying crazy things that are wicked.
¹⁴     But he never stops talking.
Nobody knows what will happen in the future.
    Nobody can tell us what will happen after we die.
¹⁵ When a fool does any work,
    he quickly becomes tired.
He is so tired that he forgets the way to town.

¹⁶ A country is in terrible trouble
    if its ruler is young and foolish.
If its leaders go to parties all day,
    a country is in trouble.
¹⁷ But if a country's ruler belongs to a good family,
    that country will be a happy place.
Its leaders only enjoy parties at the proper time.
    They control themselves and they do not become drunk.
¹⁸ If a man is too lazy to work on his house,
    its roof will fall down.
    Rain will make his rooms wet.
¹⁹ Good food and wine help us to laugh and to be happy.
    But you need to have money to buy everything.
²⁰ Do not say bad things about the king.
    Do not even think about it!
Even when you are in your bedroom,
    do not say bad things about rich people.
A little bird might hear you.
    It might tell people what you have said.

⁹ Young people, enjoy your life while you are young.
    Do the things that you think are good.
    Enjoy the things that you see.
But remember that God will judge you
    for all the things that you do.
¹⁰ Do not worry about things.
    Do not let your body cause you to have pain.
You will not be young and strong for very long.
    We all become old too quickly.

12 Remember to serve God while you are young.
    He is the one who made you.
Your life will have many troubles in the future.
During those years, you will say,
    ‘I do not enjoy my life any more.’
² When you are old, the light from the sun will not seem to be bright.
    You will not see the moon or the stars.
There will always be dark clouds after the rain.
³ Your arms that have kept you safe will shake.
    Your legs will become weak.
You will have only a few teeth to eat with.
    Your eyes will no longer see very well.
⁴ Your ears will not hear noises outside in the streets.
    You will not hear the sound of people as they work.
    You will not hear the sound of people as they sing songs.
But a bird's song will wake you
    when you want to sleep.
⁵ You will be afraid to stand on high places.
    You will worry about danger in the streets.
When you are old, your hair will become white,
    like the flowers on an almond tree.
You will feel too tired to move yourself,
    like an old grasshopper.
    You will not want to have sex.
Finally, we will all die and go to our home in the ground.
    Many people will weep at our funeral.
⁶ Remember to serve God while you are young,
    because one day your life will finish.
It will be like a silver chain that breaks;
    like a gold bowl that breaks;
    like a water pot at the well that breaks into pieces;
    like a rope at the well that breaks apart.^[f]
7 Our bodies go back into the ground as dust.
The breath of our life goes back to God,
    who gave it to us.^[g]

‘All these things have no purpose.
We cannot understand why they happen.’

⁵ Young women of Jerusalem, my skin is dark but I am beautiful.^[j]
    My skin is dark, like the tents of Kedar.
    It is beautiful, like the curtains of King Solomon's tent.
⁶ The sun has caused my skin to become dark.
    Please do not look at me as if I am strange.
My brothers were angry with me.
    They caused me to work outside in the sun.
I took care of the vineyards,
    and I could not take care of my own vineyard, my body.

⁷ I love you, my dear one.^[k]
Tell me where you take your sheep to eat grass.
    Where will you take them to rest at midday?
I do not want to look for you everywhere
    among the sheep of your friends.
They might not understand what I am doing.

⁶ His left hand is under my head.
His right hand brings me near to him.

⁷ Promise this to me, young women of Jerusalem:
    Do not cause our love to wake up.
Do not cause it to become too strong
    until the time is right.
The gazelles and the wild deer will know about your promise.

⁸ Listen! I hear the voice of my lover!
    Look! He is coming!
He moves quickly across the mountains.
    He runs across the hills.
⁹ My lover is like a gazelle or a young male deer.
Look! There he is!
    He is standing behind our wall.
He is looking through the window.
    He wants to see into the room.
¹⁰ My lover said this to me:
‘My beautiful friend, I love you.
    Get up now and come with me.
¹¹ Look! The winter time has finished.
    The heavy rains have stopped.
¹² Flowers are appearing everywhere.
    It is now the season to sing happy songs.
    We can hear the voices of doves around us.
¹³ New fruit is growing on the fig trees.
There are flowers on the vines,
    and their sweet smell is in the air.
I love you, my beautiful friend.
    Please get up now and come with me!’

¹⁵ Catch the foxes for us!
Our vines now have flowers
    and they will soon give us fruit.
So catch the little foxes before they destroy our vineyards.^[s]

⁵ Promise this to me, young women of Jerusalem:
    Do not cause our love to wake up.
Do not cause it to become too strong
    until the time is right.
The gazelles and the wild deer will know about your promise.

    Yes, you are very beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are like doves.
Your hair is like a group of goats
    that are coming down from Mount Gilead.^[aa]
2 Your teeth are very white like a group of sheep.
    They are like sheep after someone has cut off their dirty wool
    and they are coming from the pool of water.
Each tooth is one of a pair.
    Not one of them is alone.
³ Your lips are like bright red strings.
    Your mouth is lovely.
The sides of your face are beautiful,
    like the halves of a pomegranate.
I see them through your veil.^[ab]
4 Your neck is like the great tower of King David.^[ac]
    It is round and strong.
Your necklace is like the shields of 1,000 brave soldiers
    that hang from the stones of the tower.
⁵ Your breasts are perfect,
    like two young gazelles that are twins.
    They feed themselves among the lilies.
⁶ I will go to the mountain of myrrh
    and the hill of frankincense.
I will stay among them until the dawn comes
    and the shadows go away.
⁷ You are completely beautiful, my dear friend.
    Your body is perfect in every way.

⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.
    Yes, come with me from Lebanon.
Come down from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir.
    Come down from the highest part of Hermon.^[ad]
Come away from those mountains where lions live,
    and where there are leopards.

He said, ‘Open the door for me, my dear friend.
    You are my sister,
    the perfect one that I love.
    To me you are like a beautiful dove.
Dew from the night air covers my head.
    My hair is very wet.’

³ I said, ‘I have taken off my day clothes.
    I do not want to dress myself again.
I have washed my feet.
    I do not want them to get dirty again.’

⁴ My lover pushed his hand through the hole in the door.
    My heart began to beat faster because he was near.
⁵ I got up to open the door for my lover.
    My hands were wet with myrrh.
Myrrh dropped from my fingers
    onto the handle of the door.
⁶ I opened the door for my lover.
    But he had already turned away.
    He had gone!
I was very upset that he had gone away.
    I looked for him but I did not find him.
    I called to him but he did not answer me.
⁷ The city guards found me
    as they walked in the streets of the city.
They beat me and they hurt my body.
    Those guards on the city walls took away my robe.

⁸ Young women of Jerusalem,
    please find my lover!
Promise me to tell him this, if you find him.
    Tell him that my love for him has made me weak!

I say to you, young women of Jerusalem,
this is my lover!
This is my true friend.

³ My lover belongs to me,
    and I belong to him.
He moves among the lilies with his sheep.

    You are as lovely as Jerusalem.^[ai]
You are as wonderful as an army that is waving its flags.^[aj]
5 Turn your eyes away from me.
    They give me pleasure that is too strong for me!
Your hair is like a group of goats
    that are coming down from Mount Gilead.
⁶ Your teeth are very white
    like a group of clean sheep that is coming from the pool of water.
Each tooth is one of a pair.
    Not one of them is alone.
⁷ The sides of your face are beautiful,
    like the halves of a pomegranate.
I see them through your veil.

⁸ A king may have 60 queens.
    He may have 80 slave wives.
He may have many other young women too.
    There may be too many for him to count!^[ak]
9 But there is only one woman that I want.
    Nobody is like her in any way.
    She is my perfect one, as lovely as a dove.
She is the special daughter of her mother.
    Her mother loves her best among all her children.
The young women saw her and they praised her.
    The queens and the slave wives also praised her.
¹⁰ They said, ‘She is like the light that appears at dawn.
    She is as beautiful as the moon.
    She is as bright as the sun.
She is as wonderful as the stars that shine brightly in their places.’

¹¹ I went down to the garden of walnut trees.^[al]
    I wanted to see the new plants that were growing in the valley;
    to see if the vines had new leaves now;
    to see if the pomegranate trees had flowers.
¹² I became so happy
    that I did not understand what was happening.
I knew that I wanted to be with her.
    I felt that I was riding with the king's men in their chariots.

⁷ You stand like a tall palm tree.
    Your breasts are like bunches of fruit that hang from the tree.^[au]
8 I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree.
    I will take hold of its fruit.’
For me, your breasts are like bunches of grapes.
    Your breath is like the sweet smell of apples.
⁹ For me, your mouth has the taste of the best wine.

¹¹ Come with me now, my lover!
    Let us go and walk through the fields.
    We can stay in the villages for the night.
¹² We can get up early in the morning
    and go to the vineyards.
We can see if the vines have started to make new leaves.
    We can see if their flowers have opened.
    We can see if the pomegranate trees have flowers.
When we are there
    I will give my love to you.
¹³ The mandrake plants send out their sweet smell.
    At our door, there are many good things to eat.^[av]
I have stored many good things that are both old and new.
    I have kept them all for you, my lover.

³ His left hand is under my head.
His right hand brings me near to him.

⁴ Promise this to me, young women of Jerusalem:
    Do not cause our love to wake up.
Do not cause it to become too strong
    until the time is right.

⁶ Keep me near to you, like a seal over your heart.^[aw]
    Keep me like a seal on your arm.
Keep me there always,
    because love is as powerful as death.
    It keeps hold of people as strongly as the grave does.
Love burns like a hot fire.
    It burns with bright flames.
⁷ Even a flood of water cannot stop the flames.
    Rivers of water cannot carry it away.
A man might try to give all his riches
    to buy a woman's love.
But she would refuse to accept what he offers to her.

¹¹ King Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon.
    He allowed other people to take care of it.
    They each paid him 1,000 silver coins for its fruit.
¹² But my own vineyard belongs to me alone.
    I take care of it myself.
You may keep the 1,000 silver coins, Solomon.
    And I will give 200 silver coins to those who take care of the fruit.