Ecclesiastes 4:9 – 6:12

Ecclesiastes 4

⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their hard work. ¹⁰ If one of them falls, his companion can lift him up. Pity the person who falls and has no one else to lift him up. ¹¹ What’s more, if two lie down, they can keep warm, but how can one person keep warm alone? ¹² Though an attacker can overpower one person, two people together can stand up against him. A rope with three strands is not quickly snapped.

¹³ Better a poor but wise child than an old but foolish king, who no longer knows enough to pay attention to a warning, ¹⁴ for he came out of prison to rule as king, even though he had been born poor in the land that became his kingdom. ^{[1] 15} I saw that all the living, all those people walking under the sun, sided with the king’s successor, the child who took his place. ¹⁶ There was no end to all the people who were before them. Yet people who come later will not be pleased with him. This too is vapor and chasing the wind.

Empty Vows, Empty Words

Ecclesiastes 5

¹ Watch your step when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen, rather than to give the kind of sacrifice fools give, for they do not know that they are doing wrong. ^{[2] 2} Do not be hasty with your mouth, and in your heart do not be in a hurry to bring a matter before God, because God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. ³ As too much busyness leads to dreams, too many words lead to foolish talk.

⁴ When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for he takes no delight in fools. Fulfill whatever you have vowed. ⁵ Better that you do not vow, than that you do make a vow and do not fulfill it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say to the temple official that the vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of what you say and ruin the work your hands have done?

⁷ A lot of dreaming produces a lot of vapor. So does a lot of words. ^[3] Instead, fear God.

Life Is Futile

⁸ If you see the poor being oppressed, and you see the province being robbed of justice and fairness, do not be shocked about the situation, because one high official is watched by a higher one, and higher ones are over them! ⁹ All officials take their cut of the profit from the land; even the king benefits from the fields. ^[4]

¹⁰ Anyone who loves money is never satisfied with money, and anyone who loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is vanishing vapor.

¹¹ When goods increase, so do those who eat them. What profit, then, does the owner get, except to see these things with his eyes?

¹² The worker’s sleep is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but a rich person’s abundant possessions allow him no sleep.

¹³ I have seen a sickening evil under the sun—wealth hoarded by its owner to his own harm, ¹⁴ or wealth that is lost in a bad investment. Or a man fathers a son, but he has nothing left in his hand to give him. ¹⁵ As he came out from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came. From his hard work he can pick up nothing that he can carry away in his hand. ¹⁶ This too is a sickening evil: Just as he came, so he will go. So what does he gain, he who works for the wind? ¹⁷ Besides this, during all his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸ So then, here is what I have seen to be good: It is beautiful to eat, to drink, and to look for good in all a person’s hard work which he has done under the sun, during the few days of his life that God has given him, for that is his reward. ¹⁹ Likewise, for everyone to whom God has given wealth and riches, if God has also given him ability to eat from it, to enjoy his reward, ^[5] and to rejoice in the results of his hard work—this is a gift of God, ²⁰ for the man seldom reflects on the days of his life, since God keeps him busy with the joy in his heart.

Ecclesiastes 6

¹ There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, a common burden that people bear: ^{[6] 2} God gives somebody wealth, riches, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of everything that he craves, but God does not give him the opportunity to eat it. Instead, a stranger eats it. This is vapor, and a sickening evil.

³ A man may father a hundred children and live many years, but if his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, no matter how many days he lives, I say, “A stillborn baby is better off than he is.” ⁴ Why? Because that baby comes like a vapor and leaves in darkness, and its name gets covered in darkness. ⁵ The baby does not see the sun or know it, ^[7] but it enjoys more peaceful rest than that man does, ⁶ even if that man would live a thousand years two times without enjoying good things. They all go to the same place, don’t they?

⁷ All of a man’s hard work is to feed his mouth, but his appetite ^[8] never feels satisfied.

⁸ So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? What advantage does a poor man gain, who knows how to keep walking among the living? ^{[9] 9} Better to have eyes that look at what is actually there than desires that roam. This too is vapor and chasing the wind.

¹⁰ Whatever exists already has its name, ^[10] and it is already known what man is. He is not able to win in court against one who is stronger than he is. ^[11]

¹¹ Yes, the more words, ^[12] the more vapor. What advantage does a man have?

¹² For who knows what is good for a man in life, in the few days of his life, that vanishes like vapor, that passes like a shadow? ^[13] Who will tell the man what will be after him, under the sun?