Ecclesiastes 4:1–8:1

Slow Suicide

^1–34Next I turned my attention to all the outrageous violence that takes place on this planet—the tears of the victims, no one to comfort them; the iron grip of oppressors, no one to rescue the victims from them. So I congratulated the dead who are already dead instead of the living who are still alive. But luckier than the dead or the living is the person who has never even been, who has never seen the bad business that takes place on this earth.

⁴Then I observed all the work and ambition motivated by envy. What a waste! Smoke. And spitting into the wind.

⁵The fool sits back and takes it easy,

His sloth is slow suicide.

⁶One handful of peaceful repose

Is better than two fistfuls of worried work—

More spitting into the wind.

Why Am I Working Like a Dog?

^7–8I turned my head and saw yet another wisp of smoke on its way to nothingness: a solitary person, completely alone—no children, no family, no friends—yet working obsessively late into the night, compulsively greedy for more and more, never bothering to ask, “Why am I working like a dog, never having any fun? And who cares?” More smoke. A bad business.

^9–10It’s better to have a partner than go it alone.

Share the work, share the wealth.

And if one falls down, the other helps,

But if there’s no one to help, tough!

¹¹Two in a bed warm each other.

Alone, you shiver all night.

¹²By yourself you’re unprotected.

With a friend you can face the worst.

Can you round up a third?

A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.

^13–16A poor youngster with some wisdom is better off than an old but foolish king who doesn’t know which end is up. I saw a youth just like this start with nothing and go from rags to riches, and I saw everyone rally to the rule of this young successor to the king. Even so, the excitement died quickly, the throngs of people soon lost interest. Can’t you see it’s only smoke? And spitting into the wind?

God’s in Charge, Not You

¹5Watch your step when you enter God’s house.

Enter to learn. That’s far better than mindlessly offering a sacrifice,

Doing more harm than good.

²Don’t shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think.

Don’t be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear.

God’s in charge, not you—the less you speak, the better.

³Overwork makes for restless sleep.

Overtalk shows you up as a fool.

^4–5When you tell God you’ll do something, do it—now.

God takes no pleasure in foolish gabble. Vow it, then do it.

Far better not to vow in the first place than to vow and not pay up.

⁶Don’t let your mouth make a total sinner of you.

When called to account, you won’t get by with

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

Why risk provoking God to angry retaliation?

⁷But against all illusion and fantasy and empty talk

There’s always this rock foundation: Fear God!

A Salary of Smoke

^8–9Don’t be too upset when you see the poor kicked around, and justice and right violated all over the place. Exploitation filters down from one petty official to another. There’s no end to it, and nothing can be done about it. But the good earth doesn’t cheat anyone—even a bad king is honestly served by a field.

¹⁰The one who loves money is never satisfied with money,

Nor the one who loves wealth with big profits. More smoke.

¹¹The more loot you get, the more looters show up.

And what fun is that—to be robbed in broad daylight?

¹²Hard and honest work earns a good night’s sleep,

Whether supper is beans or steak.

But a rich man’s belly gives him insomnia.

^13–17Here’s a piece of bad luck I’ve seen happen:

A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him

And then loses it all in a bad business deal.

He fathered a child but hasn’t a cent left to give him.

He arrived naked from the womb of his mother;

He’ll leave in the same condition—with nothing.

This is bad luck, for sure—naked he came, naked he went.

So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke?

All for a miserable life spent in the dark?

Make the Most of What God Gives

^18–20After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.

Things Are Bad

^1–26I looked long and hard at what goes on around here, and let me tell you, things are bad. And people feel it. There are people, for instance, on whom God showers everything—money, property, reputation—all they ever wanted or dreamed of. And then God doesn’t let them enjoy it. Some stranger comes along and has all the fun. It’s more of what I’m calling smoke. A bad business.

^3–5Say a couple have scores of children and live a long, long life but never enjoy themselves—even though they end up with a big funeral! I’d say that a stillborn baby gets the better deal. It gets its start in a mist and ends up in the dark—unnamed. It sees nothing and knows nothing, but is better off by far than anyone living.

⁶Even if someone lived a thousand years—make it two thousand!—but didn’t enjoy anything, what’s the point? Doesn’t everyone end up in the same place?

⁷We work to feed our appetites;

Meanwhile our souls go hungry.

^8–9So what advantage has a sage over a fool, or over some poor wretch who barely gets by? Just grab whatever you can while you can; don’t assume something better might turn up by and by. All it amounts to anyway is smoke. And spitting into the wind.

¹⁰Whatever happens, happens. Its destiny is fixed.

You can’t argue with fate.

^11–12The more words that are spoken, the more smoke there is in the air. And who is any better off? And who knows what’s best for us as we live out our meager smoke-and-shadow lives? And who can tell any of us the next chapter of our lives?

Don’t Take Anything for Granted

¹7A good reputation is better than a fat bank account.

Your death date tells more than your birth date.

²You learn more at a funeral than at a feast—

After all, that’s where we’ll end up. We might discover something from it.

³Crying is better than laughing.

It blotches the face but it scours the heart.

⁴Sages invest themselves in hurt and grieving.

Fools waste their lives in fun and games.

⁵You’ll get more from the rebuke of a sage

Than from the song and dance of fools.

⁶The giggles of fools are like the crackling of twigs

Under the cooking pot. And like smoke.

⁷Brutality stupefies even the wise

And destroys the strongest heart.

⁸Endings are better than beginnings.

Sticking to it is better than standing out.

⁹Don’t be quick to fly off the handle.

Anger boomerangs. You can spot a fool by the lumps on his head.

¹⁰Don’t always be asking, “Where are the good old days?”

Wise folks don’t ask questions like that.

^11–12Wisdom is better when it’s paired with money,

Especially if you get both while you’re still living.

Double protection: wisdom and wealth!

Plus this bonus: Wisdom energizes its owner.

¹³Take a good look at God’s work.

Who could simplify and reduce Creation’s curves and angles

To a plain straight line?

¹⁴On a good day, enjoy yourself;

On a bad day, examine your conscience.

God arranges for both kinds of days

So that we won’t take anything for granted.

Stay in Touch with Both Sides

^15–17I’ve seen it all in my brief and pointless life—here a good person cut down in the middle of doing good, there a bad person living a long life of sheer evil. So don’t knock yourself out being good, and don’t go overboard being wise. Believe me, you won’t get anything out of it. But don’t press your luck by being bad, either. And don’t be reckless. Why die needlessly?

¹⁸It’s best to stay in touch with both sides of an issue. A person who fears God deals responsibly with all of reality, not just a piece of it.

¹⁹Wisdom puts more strength in one wise person

Than ten strong men give to a city.

²⁰There’s not one totally good person on earth,

Not one who is truly pure and sinless.

^21–22Don’t eavesdrop on the conversation of others.

What if the gossip’s about you and you’d rather not hear it?

You’ve done that a few times, haven’t you—said things

Behind someone’s back you wouldn’t say to his face?

How to Interpret the Meaning of Life

^23–25I tested everything in my search for wisdom. I set out to be wise, but it was beyond me, far beyond me, and deep—oh so deep! Does anyone ever find it? I concentrated with all my might, studying and exploring and seeking wisdom—the meaning of life. I also wanted to identify evil and stupidity, foolishness and craziness.

^26–29One discovery: A woman can be a bitter pill to swallow, full of seductive scheming and grasping. The lucky escape her; the undiscerning get caught. At least this is my experience—what I, the Quester, have pieced together as I’ve tried to make sense of life. But the wisdom I’ve looked for I haven’t found. I didn’t find one man or woman in a thousand worth my while. Yet I did spot one ray of light in this murk: God made men and women true and upright; we’re the ones who’ve made a mess of things.

¹8There’s nothing better than being wise,

Knowing how to interpret the meaning of life.

Wisdom puts light in the eyes,

And gives gentleness to words and manners.