Day 205: Ecclesiastes 5 - 9

Bible in a year reading for day 205.

Ecclesiastes 5

4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.
5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.
6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?
7 For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.
8 If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.
9 The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
10 He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.
11 When good things increase, so do those who consume them; what then is the profit to the owner, except to behold them with his eyes?
12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.
13 There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
14 or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.
15 As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.
16 This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?
17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.
18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.
19 Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God.
20 For a man seldom considers the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

Ecclesiastes 6

1 There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
2 God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.
3 A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
4 For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
5 The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
7 All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
8 What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
9 Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
10 Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
11 For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
12 For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7

1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and one’s day of death is better than his day of birth.
2 It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.
6 For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.
7 Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than the beginning, and a patient spirit is better than a proud one.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is unwise of you to ask about this.
11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good, and it benefits those who see the sun.
12 For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
13 Consider the work of God: Who can straighten what He has bent?
14 In the day of prosperity, be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider this: God has made one of these along with the other, so that a man cannot discover anything that will come after him.
15 In my futile life I have seen both of these: A righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
16 Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
17 Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.
19 Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.
20 Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.
22 For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I tested by wisdom, saying, “I resolve to be wise.” But it was beyond me.
24 What exists is out of reach and very deep. Who can fathom it?
25 I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.
27 “Behold,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find an explanation.
28 While my soul was still searching but not finding, among a thousand I have found one upright man, but among all these I have not found one such woman.
29 Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

Ecclesiastes 8

1 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.
2 Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.
3 Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
4 For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.
6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
8 As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9 All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.
10 Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.
11 When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.
15 So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—
17 I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.

Ecclesiastes 9

1 So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.
2 It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.
3 This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.
4 There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
8 Let your garments always be white, and never spare the oil for your head.
9 Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.
10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

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