The Living Bible (215 page)

Ecclesiastes
8

How wonderful to be wise, to understand things, to be able to analyze them and interpret them. Wisdom lights up a man’s face, softening its hardness.

    
^2-3
 Obey the king as you have vowed to do. Don’t always be trying to get out of doing your duty, even when it’s unpleasant. For the king punishes those who disobey.
⁴
 The king’s command is backed by great power, and no one can withstand it or question it.
⁵
 Those who obey him will not be punished. The wise man will find a time and a way to do what he says.
^6-7
 Yes, there is a time and a way for everything, though man’s trouble lies heavy upon him; for how can he avoid what he doesn’t know is going to happen?

    
⁸
 No one can hold back his spirit from departing; no one has the power to prevent his day of death, for there is no discharge from that obligation and that dark battle. Certainly a man’s wickedness is not going to help him then.

    
^9-10
 I have thought deeply about all that goes on here in the world, where people have the power of injuring each other. I have seen wicked men buried, and as their friends returned from the cemetery, having forgotten all the dead man’s evil deeds, these men were praised in the very city where they had committed their many crimes! How odd!
¹¹
 Because God does not punish sinners instantly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.
¹²
 But though a man sins a hundred times and still lives, I know very well that those who fear God will be better off,
¹³
 unlike the wicked, who will not live long, good lives—their days shall pass away as quickly as shadows because they don’t fear God.

    
¹⁴
 There is a strange thing happening here upon the earth: Providence seems to treat some good men as though they were wicked, and some wicked men as though they were good. This is all very vexing and troublesome!

    
¹⁵
 Then I decided to spend my time having fun because I felt that there was nothing better in all the earth than that a man should eat, drink, and be merry, with the hope that this happiness would stick with him in all the hard work that God gives to mankind everywhere.

    
^16-17
 In my search for wisdom I observed all that was going on everywhere across the earth—ceaseless activity, day and night. (Of course, only God can see everything, and even the wisest man who says he knows everything, doesn’t!)

Ecclesiastes
9

This, too, I carefully explored—that godly and wise men are in God’s will; no one knows whether he will favor them or not. All is chance!
^2-3
 The same providence confronts everyone, whether good or bad, religious or irreligious, profane or godly. It seems so unfair that one fate comes to all. That is why men are not more careful to be good but instead choose their own mad course, for they have no hope—there is nothing but death ahead anyway.

    
⁴
 There is hope only for the living. “It is better to be a live dog than a dead lion!”
⁵
 For the living at least know that they will die! But the dead know nothing ; they don’t even have their memories.
*
⁶
 Whatever they did in their lifetimes—loving, hating, envying—is long gone, and they have no part in anything here on earth anymore.
⁷
 So go ahead, eat, drink, and be merry, for it makes no difference to God!
⁸
 Wear fine clothes—with a dash of cologne!
⁹
 Live happily with the woman you love through the fleeting days of life, for the wife God gives you is your best reward down here for all your earthly toil.
¹⁰
 Whatever you do, do well, for in death, where you are going, there is no working or planning, or knowing, or understanding.
*

    
¹¹
 Again I looked throughout the earth and saw that the swiftest person does not always win the race, nor the strongest man the battle, and that wise men are often poor, and skillful men are not necessarily famous; but it is all by chance, by happening to be at the right place at the right time.
¹²
 A man never knows when he is going to run into bad luck. He is like a fish caught in a net, or a bird caught in a snare.

    
¹³
 Here is another thing that has made a deep impression on me as I have watched human affairs:
¹⁴
 There was a small city with only a few people living in it, and a great king came with his army and besieged it.
¹⁵
 There was in the city a wise man, very poor, and he knew what to do to save the city, and so it was rescued. But afterwards no one thought any more about him.
¹⁶
 Then I realized that though wisdom is better than strength, nevertheless, if the wise man is poor, he will be despised, and what he says will not be appreciated.
¹⁷
 But even so, the quiet words of a wise man are better than the shout of a king of fools.
¹⁸
 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one rotten apple can spoil a barrelful.

Ecclesiastes
10

Dead flies will cause even a bottle of perfume to stink! Yes, a small mistake can outweigh much wisdom and honor.
²
 A wise man’s heart leads him to do right, and a fool’s heart leads him to do evil.
³
 You can identify a fool just by the way he walks down the street!

    
⁴
 If the boss is angry with you, don’t quit! A quiet spirit will quiet his bad temper.

    
⁵
 There is another evil I have seen as I have watched the world go by, a sad situation concerning kings and rulers:
⁶
 For I have seen foolish men given great authority and rich men not given their rightful place of dignity!
⁷
 I have even seen servants riding, while princes walk like servants!

    
^8-9
 Dig a well—and fall into it! Demolish an old wall—and be bitten by a snake! When working in a quarry, stones will fall and crush you! There is risk in each stroke of your ax!

    
¹⁰
 A dull ax requires great strength; be wise and sharpen the blade.

    
¹¹
 When the horse is stolen, it is too late to lock the barn.
*

    
^12-13
 It is pleasant to listen to wise words, but a fool’s speech brings him to ruin. Since he begins with a foolish premise, his conclusion is sheer madness.
¹⁴
 A fool knows all about the future and tells everyone in detail! But who can really know what is going to happen?
¹⁵
 A fool is so upset by a little work that he has no strength for the simplest matter.
*

    
^16-17
 Woe to the land whose king is a child and whose leaders are already drunk in the morning. Happy the land whose king is a nobleman and whose leaders work hard before they feast and drink, and then only to strengthen themselves for the tasks ahead!
¹⁸
 Laziness lets the roof leak, and soon the rafters begin to rot.
¹⁹
 A party gives laughter, and wine gives happiness, and money gives everything!
²⁰
 Never curse the king, not even in your thoughts, nor the rich man, either; for a little bird will tell them what you’ve said.

Ecclesiastes
11

Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later.
²
 Divide your gifts among many,
*
for in the days ahead you yourself may need much help.

    
³
 When the clouds are heavy, the rains come down; when a tree falls, whether south or north, the die is cast, for there it lies.
⁴
 If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.
*
⁵
 God’s ways are as mysterious as the pathway of the wind and as the manner in which a human spirit is infused into the little body of a baby while it is yet in its mother’s womb.
⁶
 Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow—perhaps it all will.

    
⁷
 It is a wonderful thing to be alive!
⁸
 If a person lives to be very old, let him rejoice in every day of life, but let him also remember that eternity is far longer and that everything down here is futile in comparison.

    
⁹
 Young man, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it! Do all you want to; take in everything, but realize that you must account to God for everything you do.
¹⁰
 So banish grief and pain, but remember that youth, with a whole life before it, can make serious mistakes.