⁴I also realized that all of the toil and all of the skillful work that is done—it is envy between one man and another.^b This also is vanity and chasing wind!

⁵The fool refuses to work with his hands,

so he has nothing to eat except his own skin!^c

⁶Better is one handful with peace

than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Wealth without Someone with Which to Enjoy It is Futile

⁷I turned again and saw another vanity under the sun. ⁸Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. He laments, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself^d of pleasure?” This also is vanity—it is an unhappy business!

Friends and Family Can Help One Another in Life

⁹Two are better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will help up his companion. But pity the one who falls and there is no one^e to help him up. ¹¹Also if two lie together, they can keep each other warm.^f But how can one person be warm? ¹²Although an assailant may overpower one person, two may withstand him.^g A threefold cord is not easily broken!^h

One Must Be Willing to Listen to Counsel

¹³A poor but wise youth is better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to receive advice.ⁱ ¹⁴For he came out of the prison house to reign, since he was born poor in his kingdom.^j ¹⁵I saw all the living who move about under the sun with the youth; the second who will stand in his place. ¹⁶There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also is vanity and chasing wind!

Listen to God Rather Than Uttering Rash Vows

5^a Guard your steps when you go to the house of God;

draw near to listen rather than to offer a sacrifice of fools,

for they do not know that they are doing evil.

²Do not be rash with your mouth,

and do not let your heart be quick to utter a word before God.

For God is in heaven, and you are on earth;

therefore, let your words be few.

³For a dream comes with many cares,

and the voice of a fool with many words.

⁴When you make a vow to God,

do not delay in fulfilling it,

for he takes no pleasure^b in fools.

Fulfill what you vow!

⁵It is better that you not vow

than that you vow and not fulfill it.

⁶Do not let your mouth lead your flesh into sin,

and do not tell the messenger that it was a mistake.

Why anger God at your words,

so that he destroys the work of your hands?

⁷For with many dreams come vanities and numerous words.

Therefore, fear God!

Powerful Bureaucrats Exploit the Helpless Poor

⁸Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence

or do not see justice and righteousness in the province.

For one official is watched by a higher official,

and there are even higher officials over them!

⁹The produce of the land is exploited by everyone;

even the king profits from the field of the poor!^c

There is Never Enough Money to Satisfy

¹⁰Whoever loves money is not satisfied with money,

and whoever loves wealth is not satisfied with profit.

This also is vanity!

¹¹When prosperity increases,

those who consume it increase.

So its owner gains nothing,

except to see his wealth before it is spent.^d

¹²The sleep of the laborer is pleasant, whether he eats little or much,

but the wealth of the rich man does not allow him to rest.

Hoarding Wealth Can Backfire

¹³There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded^e by its owner to his harm. ¹⁴That wealth was lost in a bad venture. Although he has borne a child, he has nothing to leave to him.^f ¹⁵Just as he came from his mother’s womb naked, he will depart^g just as he came; he will take nothing with him for his toil. ¹⁶This also is a grievous illness. Exactly as he came, so he will go. What profit does he gain for all his toil for the wind? ¹⁷Also, he eats in darkness all his days; he is frustrated in much sickness and resentment.

If You Have Wealth, Enjoy It as God Enables

¹⁸Look! I have discovered what is good and fitting: to eat and to drink and to enjoy^h all the fruit of the toil with which one toils under the sun during the number of the days of his life that God gives to him—for this is his lot.ⁱ ¹⁹This indeed is a gift of God: everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions, he also empowers him to enjoy them,^j to accept his lot, and to rejoice in the fruit of his toil. ²⁰For he does not remember the brief days of his life, for God keeps his heart preoccupied with enjoyment of life.

Those Who Have Wealth but Do Not Enjoy It Are Pitiful

6Here is another misfortune that I have seen under the sun, and it is prevalent among humankind. ²God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; yet God does not enable him to enjoy it—instead someone else ends up enjoying it. This is vanity—indeed, it is a grievous ill!

³Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart^a is not satisfied with his prosperity^b and he does not receive a proper burial,^c I deem the stillborn better than him. ⁴For he comes into vanity and departs into darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness. ⁵He has neither seen nor known the sun, yet he has more rest than him. ⁶Even if a man^d lives a thousand years twice, if he^e does not enjoy prosperity,^f both suffer the same fate!^g

One Must Learn to Be Content with What One Has

⁷All of a man’s toil is for his mouth—

yet his appetite is never satisfied.

⁸So do the wise really have an advantage over fools?

Can the poor really gain anything by knowing how to act in front of others?^h

⁹Better to be content with what your eyes see

than for your soul to constantly crave more.ⁱ

This also is vanity and chasing wind!

It is Futile for Humans to Complain about God’s Irresistible Will

¹⁰Whatever is—it was already determined,

what will be—it has already been decided.^j

As for man, he cannot argue

against what is more powerful than him.

¹¹Increasing words only multiplies futility,^k

how does that profit anyone?

The Future is Inscrutable to Humans

¹²For who knows what is good for a man in his life during the few days of his fleeting life, which are fleeting as a shadow? For who can tell anyone what will happen in the future^l under the sun?

People Generally Do Not Know What is Best for Them

7A good name is better than precious ointment,

and the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth.

²Better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting,

for death is the end of every person,

and the living should take it to his heart.

³Sorrow is better than laughter,

for by sadness of countenance the heart is made good.

⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

⁵Better to listen to the rebuke of the wise

than for a man to listen to the song of fools.

⁶Like the sound of thorns under a pot,

so also the laughter of fools.

This also is vanity!

Wisdom—Although Vulnerable—is Beneficial

⁷Surely oppression makes a fool of the wise,

and a bribe corrupts the heart.

⁸The end of a matter is better than its beginning;

better to be slow to anger than hot-headed.^a

⁹Do not be quick in your spirit to anger,

for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

¹⁰Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance;

it benefits the living.^b

¹²For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection.^c

But knowledge has an advantage—wisdom restores life to its possessor.

Humans Must Accept God’s Will and Make the Best of It

¹³Consider the work of God.

For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?

¹⁴In the day of prosperity, rejoice!

But in the day of adversity, consider!

For God made one in place of another

so that mortals cannot find out what will happen in the future.^d

The Law of Retribution Does Not Always Work—but It Does Sometimes

¹⁵I have seen all these things in my vain life:

Sometimes a righteous man perishes in spite of his righteousness,

and sometimes a wicked man lives a long life in spite of his evil.

¹⁶Do not be excessively^e righteous,

and do not act excessively wise, lest you destroy yourself.

¹⁷Do not act excessively wicked,

and do not be a fool, lest you die before your time.

¹⁸It is good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other;

for whoever fears God will hold both of them secure.

Wisdom is Valuable, but No One is Completely Righteous

¹⁹Wisdom gives more strength to the wise

than ten rulers who are in the city.

²⁰Surely there is no one righteous on the earth

who continually does good and never sins.

²¹Do not pay attention to everything people say,

lest you hear your own servant curse you.

²²For your heart knows

that you also have cursed others many times.

Absolute Wisdom is Unattainable

²³All this I have tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise!” but it was beyond my grasp.^f ²⁴Whatever is—it is far beyond comprehension.^g Who can discover it?

²⁵I set my mind to try to seek wisdom and the plan, and to know that wickedness is foolishness and that folly is delusion. ²⁶I myself found that more bitter than death is the woman who is a trap, whose heart is a snare, and whose hands are bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her. ²⁷“Look! I found this,” said the Teacher,^h…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Ecclesiastes 4–8 in Logos

Footnotes

aLiterally “And look! The tears of the oppressed, and there is no comforting for them, and from the hand of oppressors of them was power, and there is no comforting for them”
bLiterally “his friend”
cLiterally “The fool folds his hands and eats his flesh”
dLiterally “his soul”
eLiterally “there is not a second”
fLiterally “and it will be warm for them”
gLiterally “And even though he will prevail against him, the one; the second, they will withstand opposite him”
hLiterally “will not be broken in haste”
iLiterally “how to be warned”
jLiterally “for all in his kingdom he was born poor”
a Ecclesiastes 5:1–20 in the English Bible is 4:17–5:19 in the Hebrew Bible
bLiterally “there is no desire”
cLiterally “for the field is even worked for the king”
dLiterally “And what gain has its owner but to see it with his eyes?”
eLiterally “kept ”
fLiterally “he has nothing in his hand”
gLiterally “return to go”
hLiterally “to see goodness”
iOr “fate”
jLiterally “to eat from it”
aOr “his soul”
bLiterally “the good”
cLiterally “and also there is no burial for him”
dHebrew “he”
eHebrew “and”
fLiterally “good”
gLiterally “are not the all going to the same place?”
hLiterally “What is there for the poor knowing how to conduct themselves before the living?”
iLiterally “Sight of the eyes is better than wandering of desire”
jLiterally “and his name is known what he is man”
kLiterally “Where there are numerous words, it makes numerous vanity”
lLiterally “after him”
aLiterally “one who is long of spirit is better than one who is high of spirit”
bLiterally “to those who see the sun”
cLiterally “For in the shade of wisdom is the shade of money”
dLiterally “after him”
eOr “abundantly”
fLiterally “it was far from me”
gLiterally “That which is—it is far and deep deep”
hHebrew “Qohelet”