The Daily Audio Bible

4 Teacher: Then I looked again and saw all the oppression that happens under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and no one offered to help and comfort them. The oppressors exercise all the power, while the powerless have no one to help and comfort them. ² It struck me that the dead are actually better off than the living who must go on living; ³ and, even better, are those who were never born in the first place. At least they have never had to witness all of the injustices that take place under the sun.

Teacher: ⁴ Then I saw yet another thing: envy fuels achievement. All the work and skills people develop come from their desire to be better than their neighbors. Even this is fleeting, like trying to embrace the wind.

⁷ Again I observed another example of how fleeting life is under the sun: ⁸ a person who is all alone—with no child, no sibling—yet he works hard his entire life. Still he is never satisfied with the wealth he gains. Does he stop to ask, “Why am I working so hard?” or “Why am I depriving myself of life’s simple pleasures?” This, too, is fleeting, like trying to catch hold of a breath; it’s a miserable situation.

⁹ Two are better than one because a good return comes when two work together. ¹⁰ If one of them falls, the other can help him up. But who will help the pitiful person who falls down alone? ¹¹ In the same way, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm. But how will the one who sleeps alone stay warm against the night? ¹² And if one person is vulnerable to attack, two can drive the attacker away. As the saying goes, “A rope made of three strands is not quickly broken.”

¹³ A poor, wise youth is better off than an old, foolish king who no longer accepts advice. ¹⁴ For example, once a young man marched out of prison to become king; it had not mattered how poor he once had been in his kingdom. ¹⁵ I saw all those who live out their lives under the sun flock to the side of a second youth who took the king’s place. ¹⁶ There seemed to be no limit to all the people who were under his authority. Yet those who will come later will not be happy with him and will refuse to follow him. Even this, you see, is fleeting—power and influence do not last—like trying to pursue the wind.^[a]

5 Teacher: Watch your step when you enter the house of God. Be ready to listen quietly rather than rushing in to offer up a sacrifice to foolish people, for they have no idea that what they do is evil.

² Do not be too hasty to speak your mind before God or too quick to make promises you won’t keep, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, watch your tongue; let your words be few. ³ For just as busyness breeds restless dreams, so wordiness reveals the voice of a fool.

⁴ If you make a promise to God, do not be slow to keep it; for He takes no pleasure in fools. So do what you have promised. ⁵ In fact, it would be better not to make a vow in the first place than to make it and not fulfill it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth lead you to sin, and do not claim before the temple messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry at the sound of your voice and destroy everything you’ve worked hard to achieve? ⁷ Daydreaming and excessive talking are pointless and fleeting things to do, like trying to catch hold of a breath. What good comes from them? It is better to quietly reverence God.

⁸ If you see the poor oppressed, justice denied, and righteousness rejected in a particular place, then do not be surprised at this; for those in power are watched over by those higher up, and they in turn by some even higher. ⁹ Still, it is better for the land in every way to have a king who cultivates the fields.^[b]

This, too, is fleeting. ¹¹ The more goods there are, the more people there are to consume them. How does any of this really benefit the owners except they can gaze proudly on their possessions? ¹² Sweet sleep comes to those who work hard, regardless of how much or how little they’ve eaten. But the abundance of the rich keeps them awake at night.

Teacher: ¹³ I have witnessed a grave evil pervading our world, one that has been with us since the first sunrise: harm comes to all who hoard their riches. ¹⁴ Such riches can easily vanish through some misfortune, so that the rich have nothing left to pass along to their children. ¹⁵ We all came naked from our mother’s womb, and we will leave this world as we came, taking nothing of the wealth for which we have toiled. ¹⁶ Here, too, is another grave evil: all of us, no matter who we are, will depart this world exactly the same way as we came into it. So what good does it do to continue to toil after the wind? ¹⁷ So all our days we eat in darkness, with mounting frustration, suffering, and anger.

¹⁸ Then it dawned on me that this is good and proper: to eat and drink and find the good in all the toil that we undertake under the sun during the few days God has given, for this is our lot in life. ¹⁹ Also, God gives wealth, possessions, and power to enjoy those things, and He allows them to accept their lot in life and to enjoy hard work. This is God’s gift. ²⁰ For people like this have no time to despair over life because God keeps them so busy with a deep-seated joy.

6 Teacher: I have seen another injustice under the sun, one that is a real burden upon humanity. ² Sometimes God gives money, possessions, and even honor, so that we have everything a person might desire; nothing is lacking. But then, for reasons God only knows, God does not allow him to enjoy the good gifts. Rather, a stranger ends up enjoying them. This, too, is fleeting; it’s a sickening evil. ³ If a person has one hundred children and lives for many years but finds no satisfaction in all of the good things that life brings and in the end doesn’t have a proper burial, I say that it would be better if that person had been stillborn ⁴ because the stillborn arrives in a fleeting breath and then goes nameless into the darkness mourned by no one and buried in an unmarked grave. ⁵ Though the child never sees the sun or knows anything, it still had more rest than the person who cannot enjoy what he has. ⁶ Even if a person were to live one thousand years twice over, but could find no satisfaction, don’t we all end up going to the same place?

Teacher: ⁷ As the saying goes, “All of our toil is food for our mouths.” We eat; we drink, and yet deep down we do not feel satisfied. ⁸ What good is it to be wise? Are the wise better off than fools? And what do the poor know that others do not when they conduct themselves before the public?^{[c] 9} It is better to enjoy what our eyes see than to long for what our roving appetites desire. This, too, is fleeting, like trying to embrace the wind.

¹⁰ Whatever exists has already been named. Human nature, as it is with its strengths and limitations, is already known. So no one dares to dispute with One so much stronger than he. ¹¹ The more a person speaks, the more breath is fleeting; and what advantage do a lot of words bring us? ¹² For who knows the best way for us to live during the few days of our fleeting lives? After all, we pass through them like shadows. For who can say what will happen under the sun after we are gone?