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Reverence, Humility, and Contentment

5^*Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.^{* 2*}Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.

3 For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words.

4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfil what you vow. ⁵It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfil it. ⁶Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and destroy the work of your hands?

7 With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words;^* but fear God.

8 If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. ⁹But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a ploughed field.^*

10 The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.

11 When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

12 Sweet is the sleep of labourers, whether they eat little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep.

13 There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt, ¹⁴and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. ¹⁵As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands. ¹⁶This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go; and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind? ¹⁷Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and resentment.

18 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot. ¹⁹Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God. ²⁰For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.

The Frustration of Desires

6There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon humankind: ²those to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honour, so that they lack nothing of all that they desire, yet God does not enable them to enjoy these things, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous ill. ³A man may beget a hundred children, and live for many years; but however many are the days of his years, if he does not enjoy life’s good things, or has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. ⁴For it comes into vanity and goes into darkness, and in darkness its name is covered; ⁵moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything; yet it finds rest rather than he. ⁶Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to one place?

7 All human toil is for the mouth, yet the appetite is not satisfied. ⁸For what advantage have the wise over fools? And what do the poor have who know how to conduct themselves before the living? ⁹Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.^*

10 Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what human beings are, and that they are not able to dispute with those who are stronger. ¹¹The more words, the more vanity, so how is one the better? ¹²For who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?

A Disillusioned View of Life

7A good name is better than precious ointment,
   and the day of death, than the day of birth.
² It is better to go to the house of mourning
   than to go to the house of feasting;
for this is the end of everyone,
   and the living will lay it to heart.
³ Sorrow is better than laughter,
   for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.
⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning;
   but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
⁵ It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
   than to hear the song of fools.
⁶ For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
   so is the laughter of fools;
   this also is vanity.
⁷ Surely oppression makes the wise foolish,
   and a bribe corrupts the heart.
⁸ Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;
   the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.
⁹ Do not be quick to anger,
   for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
¹⁰ Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’
   For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
¹¹ Wisdom is as good as an inheritance,
   an advantage to those who see the sun.
¹² For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
   and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.
¹³ Consider the work of God;
   who can make straight what he has made crooked?

14 On the day of prosperity be joyful, and on the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.

The Riddles of Life

15 In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing. ¹⁶Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? ¹⁸It is good that you should take hold of the one, without letting go of the other; for the one who fears God shall succeed with both.

19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city.

20 Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.

21 Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; ²²your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.

23 All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, ‘I will be wise’, but it was far from me. ²⁴That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? ²⁵I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness. ²⁶I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. ²⁷See, this is what I found, says the Teacher,^* adding one thing to another to find the sum, ²⁸which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.

Obey the King and Enjoy Yourself

8Who is like the wise man?
   And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
Wisdom makes one’s face shine,
   and the hardness of one’s countenance is changed.

2 Keep^* the king’s command because of your sacred oath. ³Do not be terrified; go from his presence, do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴For the word of the king is powerful, and who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ ⁵Whoever obeys a command will meet no harm, and the wise mind will know the time and way. ⁶For every matter has its time and way, although the troubles of mortals lie heavy upon them. ⁷Indeed, they do not know what is to be, for who can tell them how it will be? ⁸No one has power over the wind^* to restrain the wind,^* or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle, nor does wickedness deliver those who practise it. ⁹All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.

God’s Ways Are Inscrutable

10 Then I saw the wicked buried; they used to go in and out of the holy place, and were praised in the city where they had done such things.^* This also is vanity. ¹¹Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil. ¹²Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him, ¹³but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.

14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat, and drink, and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.