Old/New Testament
Chapter 4
Vanity of Toil. 1 Again I saw all the oppressions that take place under the sun: the tears of the victims with none to comfort[a] them! From the hand of their oppressors comes violence, and there is none to comfort them!(A) 2 And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive.(B) 3 And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun. 4 Then I saw that all toil and skillful work is the rivalry of one person with another. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
5 “Fools fold their arms
and consume their own flesh”—[b]
6 Better is one handful with tranquility
than two with toil and a chase after wind!
Companions and Successors. 7 Again I saw this vanity under the sun: 8 those all alone with no companion, with neither child nor sibling—with no end to all their toil, and no satisfaction from riches. For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good things? This also is vanity and a bad business. 9 Two are better than one: They get a good wage for their toil. 10 If the one falls, the other will help the fallen one. But woe to the solitary person! If that one should fall, there is no other to help. 11 So also, if two sleep together, they keep each other warm. How can one alone keep warm? 12 Where one alone may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply cord[c] is not easily broken.
13 [d]Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows caution; 14 for from a prison house he came forth to reign; despite his kingship he was born poor. 15 I saw all the living, those who move about under the sun, with the second youth who will succeed him.[e] 16 There is no end to all this people, to all who were before them; yet the later generations will not have joy in him. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
Vanity of Many Words. 17 (C)Guard your step when you go to the house of God.[f] Draw near for obedience, rather than for the fools’ offering of sacrifice; for they know not how to keep from doing evil.
Chapter 5
1 [g]Be not hasty in your utterance and let not your heart be quick to utter a promise in God’s presence. God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.(D)
2 As dreams come along with many cares,
so a fool’s voice along with a multitude of words.
3 (E)When you make a vow to God, delay not its fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed. 4 It is better not to make a vow than make it and not fulfill it. 5 Let not your utterances make you guilty, and say not before his representative, “It was a mistake.” Why should God be angered by your words and destroy the works of your hands? 6 (F)Despite many dreams, futilities, and a multitude of words, fear God!
Gain and Loss of Goods. 7 (G)If you see oppression of the poor, and violation of rights and justice in the realm, do not be astonished by the fact, for the high official has another higher than he watching him and above these are others higher still—. 8 But profitable for a land in such circumstances is a king concerned about cultivation.[h]
9 (H)The covetous are never satisfied with money, nor lovers of wealth with their gain; so this too is vanity. 10 Where there are great riches, there are also many to devour them. Of what use are they to the owner except as a feast for the eyes alone? 11 Sleep is sweet to the laborer, whether there is little or much to eat; but the abundance of the rich allows them no sleep.
12 This is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches hoarded by their owners to their own hurt. 13 Should the riches be lost through some misfortune, they may have offspring when they have no means. 14 (I)As they came forth from their mother’s womb, so again shall they return, naked as they came, having nothing from their toil to bring with them. 15 This too is a grievous evil, that they go just as they came. What then does it profit them to toil for the wind? 16 All their days they eat in gloom with great vexation, sickness and resentment.
17 (J)Here is what I see as good: It is appropriate to eat and drink and prosper from all the toil one toils at under the sun during the limited days of life God gives us; for this is our lot. 18 Those to whom God gives riches and property, and grants power to partake of them, so that they receive their lot and find joy in the fruits of their toil: This is a gift from God. 19 For they will hardly dwell on the shortness of life, because God lets them busy themselves with the joy of their heart.[i]
Chapter 6
Limited Worth of Enjoyment. 1 There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon humankind: 2 (K)There is one to whom God gives riches and property and honor, and who lacks nothing the heart could desire; yet God does not grant the power to partake of them, but a stranger devours them. This is vanity and a dire plague. 3 Should one have a hundred children and live many years, no matter to what great age, still if one has not the full benefit of those goods, I proclaim that the child born dead, even if left unburied, is more fortunate.[j] 4 (L)Though it came in vain and goes into darkness and its name is enveloped in darkness, 5 though it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet the dead child has more peace. 6 Should such a one live twice a thousand years and not enjoy those goods, do not both go to the same place?[k]
7 All human toil is for the mouth,[l] yet the appetite is never satisfied. 8 What profit have the wise compared to fools, or what profit have the lowly in knowing how to conduct themselves in life? 9 “What the eyes see is better than what the desires wander after.”[m] This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
II. Qoheleth’s Conclusions
10 Whatever is, was long ago given its name, and human nature is known; mortals cannot contend in judgment with One who is stronger.[n] 11 For the more words, the more vanity; what profit is there for anyone? 12 (M)For who knows what is good for mortals in life, the limited days of their vain life, spent like a shadow? Because who can tell them what will come afterward under the sun?(N)
Chapter 12
1 I[a] must boast; not that it is profitable, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know someone in Christ who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows), was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know that this person (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) 4 was caught up into Paradise and heard ineffable things, which no one may utter.(A) 5 About this person[b] I will boast, but about myself I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. 6 Although if I should wish to boast, I would not be foolish, for I would be telling the truth. But I refrain, so that no one may think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me 7 because of the abundance of the revelations. Therefore, that I might not become too elated,[c] a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.(B) 8 Three times[d] I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,(C) 9 [e]but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,[f] in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.(D) 10 Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ;(E) for when I am weak, then I am strong.[g]
Selfless Concern for the Church.[h] 11 I have been foolish. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I am in no way inferior to these “superapostles,”(F) even though I am nothing. 12 [i]The signs of an apostle were performed among you with all endurance, signs and wonders, and mighty deeds.(G) 13 [j]In what way were you less privileged than the rest of the churches, except that on my part I did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!(H)
14 Now I am ready to come to you this third time. And I will not be a burden, for I want not what is yours, but you. Children ought not to save for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? 16 But granted that I myself did not burden you, yet I was crafty and got the better of you by deceit.(I) 17 Did I take advantage of you through any of those I sent to you? 18 I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? And in the same steps?(J)
Final Warnings and Appeals.[k] 19 Have you been thinking all along that we are defending[l] ourselves before you? In the sight of God we are speaking in Christ, and all for building you up, beloved. 20 For I fear that[m] when I come I may find you not such as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish; that there may be rivalry, jealousy, fury, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.(K) 21 I fear that when I come again[n] my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and licentiousness they practiced.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.