Ecclesiastes 4–8

Is It Better to Be Dead?

4Again I saw all the people who were mistreated here on earth.

I saw their tears

and that they had no one to comfort them.

Cruel people had all the power,

and there was no one to comfort those they hurt.

²I decided that the dead

are better off than the living.

³But those who have never been born

are better off still;

they have not seen the evil

that is done here on earth.

Why Work So Hard?

⁴I realized the reason people work hard and try to succeed: They are jealous of each other. This, too, is useless, like chasing the wind.

⁵Some say it is foolish to fold your hands and do nothing,

because you will starve to death.

⁶Maybe so, but I say it is better to be content

with what little you have.

Otherwise, you will always be struggling for more,

and that is like chasing the wind.

⁷Again I saw something here on earth that was useless:

⁸I saw a man who had no family,

no son or brother.

He always worked hard

but was never satisfied with what he had.

He never asked himself, “For whom am I working so hard?

Why don’t I let myself enjoy life?”

This also is very sad and useless.

Friends and Family Give Strength

⁹Two people are better than one,

because they get more done by working together.

¹⁰If one falls down,

the other can help him up.

But it is bad for the person who is alone and falls,

because no one is there to help.

¹¹If two lie down together, they will be warm,

but a person alone will not be warm.

¹²An enemy might defeat one person,

but two people together can defend themselves;

a rope that is woven of three strings is hard to break.

Fame and Power Are Useless

¹³A poor but wise boy is better than a foolish but old king who doesn’t listen to advice. ¹⁴A boy became king. He had been born poor in the kingdom and had even gone to prison before becoming king. ¹⁵I watched all the people who live on earth follow him and make him their king. ¹⁶Many followed him at first, but later, they did not like him, either. So fame and power are useless, like chasing the wind.

Be Careful About Making Promises

5Be careful when you go to worship at the Temple. It is better to listen than to offer foolish sacrifices without even knowing you are doing wrong.

²Think before you speak,

and be careful about what you say to God.

God is in heaven,

and you are on the earth,

so say only a few words to God.

³The saying is true: Bad dreams come from too much worrying,

and too many words come from foolish people.

⁴If you make a promise to God, don’t be slow to keep it. God is not happy with fools, so give God what you promised. ⁵It is better not to promise anything than to promise something and not do it. ⁶Don’t let your words cause you to sin, and don’t say to the priest at the Temple, “I didn’t mean what I promised.” If you do, God will become angry with your words and will destroy everything you have worked for. ⁷Many useless promises are like so many dreams; they mean nothing. You should respect God.

Officers Cheat Each Other

⁸In some places you will see poor people mistreated. Don’t be surprised when they are not treated fairly or given their rights. One officer is cheated by a higher officer who in turn is cheated by even higher officers. ⁹The wealth of the country is divided up among them all. Even the king makes sure he gets his share of the profits.

Wealth Cannot Buy Happiness

¹⁰Whoever loves money

will never have enough money;

Whoever loves wealth

will not be satisfied with it.

This is also useless.

¹¹The more wealth people have,

the more friends they have to help spend it.

So what do people really gain?

They gain nothing except to look at their riches.

¹²Those who work hard sleep in peace;

it is not important if they eat little or much.

But rich people worry about their wealth

and cannot sleep.

¹³I have seen real misery here on earth:

Money saved is a curse to its owners.

¹⁴They lose it all in a bad deal

and have nothing to give to their children.

¹⁵People come into this world with nothing,

and when they die they leave with nothing.

In spite of all their hard work,

they leave just as they came.

¹⁶This, too, is real misery:

They leave just as they came.

So what do they gain from chasing the wind?

¹⁷All they get are days full of sadness and sorrow,

and they end up sick, defeated, and angry.

Enjoy Your Life’s Work

¹⁸I have seen what is best for people here on earth. They should eat and drink and enjoy their work, because the life God has given them on earth is short. ¹⁹God gives some people the ability to enjoy the wealth and property he gives them, as well as the ability to accept their state in life and enjoy their work. ²⁰They do not worry about how short life is, because God keeps them busy with what they love to do.

6I have seen something else wrong here on earth that causes serious problems for people. ²God gives great wealth, riches, and honor to some people; they have everything they want. But God does not let them enjoy such things; a stranger enjoys them instead. This is useless and very wrong. ³A man might have a hundred children and live a long time, but what good is it if he can’t enjoy the good God gives him or have a proper burial? I say a baby born dead is better off than he is. ⁴A baby born dead is useless. It returns to darkness without even a name. ⁵That baby never saw the sun and never knew anything, but it finds more rest than that man. ⁶Even if he lives two thousand years, he doesn’t enjoy the good God gives him. Everyone is going to the same place.

⁷People work just to feed themselves,

but they never seem to get enough to eat.

⁸In this way a wise person

is no better off than a fool.

Then, too, it does a poor person little good

to know how to get along in life.

⁹It is better to see what you have

than to want more.

Wanting more is useless—

like chasing the wind.

Who Can Understand God’s Plan?

¹⁰Whatever happens was planned long ago.

Everyone knows what people are like.

No one can argue with God,

who is stronger than anyone.

¹¹The more you say,

the more useless it is.

What good does it do?

¹²People have only a few useless days of life on the earth; their short life passes like a shadow. Who knows what is best for them while they live? Who can tell them what the future will bring?

Some Benefits of Serious Thinking

7It is better to have respect than good perfume.

The day of death is better than the day of birth.

²It is better to go to a funeral

than to a party.

We all must die,

and everyone living should think about this.

³Sorrow is better than laughter,

and sadness has a good influence on you.

⁴A wise person thinks about death,

but a fool thinks only about having a good time.

⁵It is better to be criticized by a wise person

than to be praised by a fool.

⁶The laughter of fools

is like the crackling of thorns in a cooking fire.

Both are useless.

⁷Even wise people are fools

if they let money change their thinking.

⁸It is better to finish something

than to start it.

It is better to be patient

than to be proud.

⁹Don’t become angry quickly,

because getting angry is foolish.

¹⁰Don’t ask, “Why was life better in the ‘good old days’?”

It is not wise to ask such questions.

¹¹Wisdom is better when it comes with money.

They both help those who are alive.

¹²Wisdom is like money:

they both help.

But wisdom is better,

because it can save whoever has it.

¹³Look at what God has done:

No one can straighten what he has bent.

¹⁴When life is good, enjoy it.

But when life is hard, remember:

God gives good times and hard times,

and no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

It Is Impossible to Be Truly Good

¹⁵In my useless life I have seen both of these:

I have seen good people die in spite of their goodness

and evil people live a long time in spite of their evil.

¹⁶Don’t be too right,

and don’t be too wise.

Why destroy yourself?

¹⁷Don’t be too wicked,

and don’t be foolish.

Why die before your time?

¹⁸It is good to grab the one and not let go of the other;

those who honor God will hold them both.

¹⁹Wisdom makes a person stronger

than ten leaders in a city.

²⁰Surely there is not a good person on earth

who always does good and never sins.

²¹Don’t listen to everything people say,

or you might hear your servant insulting you.

²²You know that many times

you have insulted others.

²³I used wisdom to test all these things.

I wanted to be wise,

but it was too hard for me.

²⁴I cannot understand why things are as they are.

It is too hard for anyone to understand.

²⁵I studied and tried very hard to find wisdom,

to find some meaning for everything.

I learned that it is foolish to be evil,

and it is crazy to act like a fool.

²⁶I found that some women are worse than death

and are as dangerous as traps.

Their love is like a net,

and their arms hold men like chains.

A man who pleases God will be saved from them,

but a sinner will be caught by them.

²⁷The Teacher says, “This is what I learned:

I added all these things together

to find some meaning for everything.

²⁸While I was searching,

I did not find one man among the thousands I found.

Nor did I find a woman among all these.

²⁹One thing I have learned:

God made people good,

but they have found all kinds of ways to be bad.”

Obey the King

8No one is like the wise person

who can understand what things mean.

Wisdom brings happiness;

it makes sad faces happy.

²Obey the king’s command, because you made a promise to God. ³Don’t be too quick to leave the king. Don’t support something that is wrong, because the king does whatever he pleases. ⁴What the king says is law; no one tells him what to do.

⁵Whoever obeys the king’s command will be safe.

A wise person does the right thing at the right time.

⁶There is a right time and a right way for everything,

yet people often have many troubles.

⁷They do not know what the future holds,

and no one can tell them what will happen.

⁸No one can control the wind

or stop his own death.

No soldier is released in times of war,

and evil does not set free those who do evil.

Justice, Rewards, and Punishment

⁹I saw all of this as I considered all that is done here on earth. Sometimes people harm those they control. ¹⁰I saw the funerals of evil people who used to go in and out of the…