Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes

Solomon's opening: all human affairs are empty§1

Solomon, son of King David, addresses the whole Church of God, declaring the emptiness of human pursuits.

Searching out wisdom brings only toil§1.2

Solomon searches out the nature of things and finds that wisdom and knowledge lead only to toil.

1.2I searched with care and considered wisely the whole nature of things on the earth, and I found it most varied: it has been given to human beings to toil on the earth, wallowing now on one occasion of toil and now on another, and all for nothing (Ecclesiastes 1:13). Everything here below is full of a strange and foul spirit (Ecclesiastes 1:14), so that these things cannot be set right, nor can anyone even begin to reckon how much disorder has taken hold of human affairs (Ecclesiastes 1:15).

For once I reasoned with myself, and supposed that I was then wiser than all who had lived here before me (Ecclesiastes 1:16), and I set my mind on understanding parables and the natures of things. But I came to think that in this I was carried along to no purpose (Ecclesiastes 1:17), and that knowledge follows wisdom, and toil follows knowledge (Ecclesiastes 1:18).

Solomon tries pleasure and great works§2.1

Solomon tries luxury, great buildings, servants, wealth and music, then comes to his senses and sees them as wretched.

2.1Judging that this was indeed so, I resolved to turn to another way of life: to give myself over to luxury and to make trial of pleasures of many kinds (Ecclesiastes 2:1). Now I have understood that all such things are vain. I held back laughter that ran on without reason, and I disciplined pleasure into sobriety, rebuking it sharply (Ecclesiastes 2:2). And reasoning that the soul can steady the body's nature when it is drunk and flowing like wine, and that self-control makes desire its slave, I was eager to see what worthy thing is set before human beings, what is truly good, that they may accomplish in this present life (Ecclesiastes 2:3).

For I went through everything else that people think admirable. I raised lofty houses and planted vineyards (Ecclesiastes 2:4); I laid out gardens and acquired and tended fruit trees of every kind (Ecclesiastes 2:5); great pools were built to hold water, set apart to water the plants abundantly (Ecclesiastes 2:6). I gathered about me a crowd of household servants, men and women, some acquired from outside, others born in my own house whose service I enjoyed (Ecclesiastes 2:7). Herds of four-footed beasts, many herds of cattle and many flocks of sheep, came under my control, more than anyone of old had possessed (Ecclesiastes 2:7). Treasures of gold and silver flowed in to me, for I had made the kings of all peoples my guards and my tributaries (Ecclesiastes 2:8). Great choirs of men and women together were gathered for my delight, performing songs in perfect harmony (Ecclesiastes 2:8). As for banquets, and the cupbearers chosen from men and women alike whom I assigned to this side of luxury, I could not even count them, so far did I surpass in these things those who had reigned in Jerusalem before me (Ecclesiastes 2:8-9).

Then it happened that my wisdom grew less, while desire that is not good increased. For I gave way to every lure of the eyes and to the unchecked impulses of the heart that pressed on me from every side (Ecclesiastes 2:10); I surrendered myself to the hope of pleasures, and I tied my own will fast to every wretched luxury. For so far had my thoughts been carried toward ruin that I believed these things were good and that it was right for me to pursue them. Then at last I came to my senses and lifted my eyes, and I saw what I had in my hands: things wretched and utterly grievous, the works of a spirit that is not good (Ecclesiastes 2:11). For now nothing at all that human beings choose appears to me, by right reason, worth accepting or worth pursuing with zeal.

Wisdom, folly and the emptiness of toil§2.2

Solomon weighs wisdom against folly, comes to hate the toil spent on empty things, and finds the true goods in wisdom from God.

2.2So, weighing together the goods of wisdom and the evils of folly, I would rightly admire, and greatly, any man who has been carried along without reason and then takes hold of himself and turns back to what he ought (Ecclesiastes 2:12). For the gap between good sense and folly is wide; the difference between them is as great as between day and night (Ecclesiastes 2:13). The one who has chosen virtue is like a man who sees each thing clearly and looks upward, and who makes his journey in the brightest daylight; but the one entangled in wickedness is like a man straying in every kind of error, as on a moonless night, blind to what lies before him and cut off by the darkness from the things around him (Ecclesiastes 2:14).

Yet when I considered how the end of each of these two lives differs, I found no difference; and since I had made myself a companion of fools, I shall receive the wages of folly (Ecclesiastes 2:14-15). For what good is there in those clever arguments, or what profit in many words, when streams of idle talk pour out as from the spring of folly (Ecclesiastes 2:15)? Yet the wise man and the fool have nothing in common, neither in how people remember them nor in how God repays them (Ecclesiastes 2:16). Human affairs still seem to be beginning when their end already overtakes them all. But the wise man never shares the same end as the senseless.

So I came to hate my whole life, spent as it was on empty things, which I passed melting away over earthly toils (Ecclesiastes 2:17). For, in short, everything I labored over so painfully was the work of thoughtless impulse; and someone else will inherit it, whether wise or foolish, the cheerless fruit of my labors (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19). But when I had set these things aside and thrown them away, the goods truly set before a human being came into view: the knowledge of wisdom and the gaining of courage (Ecclesiastes 2:20-21).

But if someone has not cared for these, and has been swept away by other things, such a man has chosen evil instead of good, pursued wickedness instead of kindness, and toil instead of rest (Ecclesiastes 2:22). He is dragged about by troubles of every kind, held in their grip night and day without end, by the pressing labors of the body and the ceaseless cares of the soul, while his heart writhes within him over strange things (Ecclesiastes 2:23). For the perfect good does not rest in eating and drinking, even though food certainly comes to human beings from God (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25); for nothing given to us for our preservation lies outside His providence. But the good man, having received wisdom from God, has received heavenly joy; while the wicked man, driven by evils sent from God and sick with greed, is eager to heap up much, and hurries to cast reproach, before the Master of all, on the man whom God has honored, holding out useless gifts, having made deceitful and empty things the pursuits of his own wretched soul (Ecclesiastes 2:26).

A time for every opposite, and God's work stands fixed§3.1

Human affairs swing between opposites, while what God has fixed can be neither added to nor taken away.

3.1This present time is full of every kind of opposite: births, then deaths; the sprouting of plants, then their uprooting (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2); healings and killings, the building of houses and their pulling down (Ecclesiastes 3:3); weeping and laughter, mourning and dancing (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Now someone gathers what comes from the earth, and now he has thrown it away; at one time he is mad with passion for a woman, at another he loathes her (Ecclesiastes 3:5). Now someone has sought something, and now he has lost it; now he has kept it, and now he has let it go (Ecclesiastes 3:6); at one time he killed, at another he was killed; he spoke, then fell silent (Ecclesiastes 3:7); he loved, then hated (Ecclesiastes 3:8). For human affairs are now at war and now at peace (Ecclesiastes 3:8), as things swing quickly from what seemed good into what all admit is evil.

Let us stop, then, our useless toils (Ecclesiastes 3:9). For all these things, it seems to me, were set there to drive human beings into frenzy with venomous stings (Ecclesiastes 3:10). A wicked one who watches for his chance gapes greedily over this age, straining with all his might to destroy what God has formed, for he has chosen to make war on it from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

I am convinced, then, that the greatest goods for a human being are good cheer and doing good (Ecclesiastes 3:12), and that even this passing enjoyment comes from God only if righteousness guides one's actions (Ecclesiastes 3:13). But from the eternal and incorruptible things that God has firmly fixed, nothing can be taken away and nothing added (Ecclesiastes 3:14). Yet to anyone at all, those things are at once fearful and wonderful. What has come to be stands fast, and what is still to be has already come to be, in that it is foreknown; and the one who suffers wrong has God for his helper (Ecclesiastes 3:15).

Judgment below, and the reasoning that man is no better than a beast§3.2

Solomon sees judgment below, then recalls his former reasoning that human beings are no better than beasts.

3.2I saw in the regions below a pit of punishment receiving the ungodly, and another place set apart for the godly (Ecclesiastes 3:16-17).

And I reasoned that before God all things were regarded and judged alike: that the righteous and the unrighteous were the same, and so were creatures with reason and creatures without it (Ecclesiastes 3:18). For, I thought, a span of time was measured out to all alike, and death hung over them; before God the races of beasts and of human beings were the same, and they differed from one another only in articulate speech; everything befell them in much the same way, and death came no more to the other living creatures than to human beings (Ecclesiastes 3:19). All, I supposed, had the same breath, and human beings had nothing more (Ecclesiastes 3:19); in a word, all things were empty, taking their make-up from the same earth and bound to be dissolved into the same earth (Ecclesiastes 3:20). For it was uncertain, I thought, whether human souls would fly upward, and whether the other souls, those that beasts possess, would melt away downward (Ecclesiastes 3:21).

And so it seemed to me that there was no other good than pleasure and the use of what is at hand (Ecclesiastes 3:22). For I supposed that once a human being has tasted death, he cannot come back again to the enjoyment of these things (Ecclesiastes 3:22).

Oppression, envy and the lonely miser§4.1

Oppression, envy and the lonely miser show the wickedness that runs through human life.

4.1Turning myself away from all these thoughts, I looked closely at all the kinds of oppression that roam among human beings, and I turned from them in disgust (Ecclesiastes 4:1). Through them some are wronged and weep and lament, struck down by force, while on every side there is no one at all to defend them or even to comfort them; and those who take the law into their own hands are lifted on high, from where they will also fall. Of the unjust and the reckless, those who have died have fared better than those who are still alive (Ecclesiastes 4:2). More to be preferred than both is the one who is to be like them but has not yet been born, because he has not yet touched the wickedness found among human beings (Ecclesiastes 4:3).

It also became clear to me how much envy pursues a man from his neighbors (Ecclesiastes 4:4), the goad of an evil spirit, and that the one who welcomes it and, as it were, clasps it to his breast is left with nothing but to eat away his own soul, to saw it through and wear it out along with his own body (Ecclesiastes 4:5), making the good fortune of others a grief past all comfort. A sensible person would rather fill one hand with ease and gentleness than both hands with toil and the cunning of a deceitful spirit (Ecclesiastes 4:6).

There is something else too which I know happens contrary to what is fitting, because of a man's will that is not good (Ecclesiastes 4:7). He stands utterly alone, with neither brother nor son, yet thrives in great possessions; he lives with greed for company and will not give himself to kindness in any way at all (Ecclesiastes 4:8). So I would gladly ask him for whose sake a man like this toils (Ecclesiastes 4:8), fleeing headlong from doing any good, and torn apart by all sorts of desires to make money from somewhere.

Two are better than one; the wise poor youth§4.2

Partnership is better than a solitary life, and a sensible poor youth is better than a foolish old king.

4.2Far better than he are those who have joined their lives in partnership, from which they may reap the best of fruits (Ecclesiastes 4:9). For when two men rightly devote themselves to the same affairs, even if some mishap befalls one of them, he still has no small help in the one who is with him; but for a man in trouble the greatest misfortune is to have no one to lift him up again (Ecclesiastes 4:10). Those who share a common life, on the other hand, double their good fortune and comfort each other through the winter of unwelcome events, so that by day they shine with the confidence they have in one another, and by night they are graced with gladness (Ecclesiastes 4:11). But the man who drags out a solitary life leads a grim existence for himself, never realizing that anyone who attacks men who stand close together makes a rash and unsafe plan, and that a threefold cord does not easily break (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

I prefer a poor young man of sound mind to an old and foolish king (Ecclesiastes 4:13), who never took it to heart that it is possible for someone from prison to be set up as king, and for himself to fall in the end, and justly, from his unjust power (Ecclesiastes 4:14). For it turns out that all those of the older generation who are placed under the young but sensible ruler live free from grief (Ecclesiastes 4:15). For those born afterward, having no experience of the other, cannot praise even this one, led as they are by thoughtless judgment and by the drive of a hostile spirit (Ecclesiastes 4:16).

When you take part in the assembly, keep this before your eyes: to walk the path of your own life rightly, and to pray for the foolish, that they may receive understanding and know how to turn away from doing evil (Ecclesiastes 5:1).

Guard the tongue and keep your vows§5.1

Guard the tongue, keep your vows and fear God, for many words are as empty as dreams.

5.1It is good to spare the tongue, and to keep a steady heart in your eagerness to speak (Ecclesiastes 5:2). For we must not be careless about our words and let slip through the voice whatever comes into the mind, even when it is out of place. Rather, we must bear in mind that, though we stand far from heaven, we speak within God's hearing (Ecclesiastes 5:2), and that it pays to speak without stumbling. Just as all manner of dream images attend the varied cares of the soul, so idle chatter is yoked to folly (Ecclesiastes 5:3).

A promise made by a vow should be fulfilled in deed (Ecclesiastes 5:4). It is the mark of fools to be cast aside (Ecclesiastes 5:4); but you, be truthful, knowing that it is far better for you not to vow, and not to promise to do anything, than to vow and then leave it undone (Ecclesiastes 5:5). You must flee by every means the flood of such fine-sounding words, knowing that God will hear them (Ecclesiastes 5:6). For the one who sets his mind on such things gains nothing but to watch his own works being destroyed by God (Ecclesiastes 5:6). For as many dreams are empty, so too are many words (Ecclesiastes 5:7). The fear of God brings salvation to human beings, but it is rare (Ecclesiastes 5:7).

So there is no need to wonder when you look at the poor being oppressed and at judges who reason dishonestly (Ecclesiastes 5:8). But you must avoid seeming to be greater than those who are more powerful (Ecclesiastes 5:8). For even if you should manage this, still wickedness, of itself, will not rescue you from the terrors that are to come upon you.

Wealth never satisfies; enjoyment is God's gift§5.2

Greed never satisfies, but to enjoy honest labor with gladness is a gift of God.

5.2Just as a possession seized by robbery is most harmful and most unholy, so the man who craves money never has his fill, nor does he win the goodwill of his neighbors, even if such men gain ever so vast a sum of silver (Ecclesiastes 5:10). For this is vain. But goodness gladdens beyond measure those who keep company with it and makes them strong, granting them the power to see each thing clearly (Ecclesiastes 5:11). It is a great thing, too, not to cling to such cares. The poor man, even if he is a slave and has not stuffed his belly full, enjoys the gentle rest that sleep brings; but the desire for wealth lives with sleepless nights and weariness of soul (Ecclesiastes 5:12). What could be more absurd than to hoard up wealth with great effort and care and keep it safe, guarding for oneself the source of countless evils (Ecclesiastes 5:13)? That wealth must one day perish and be destroyed, whether its owner has children or not (Ecclesiastes 5:14). And he himself, even if he does not wish it, must fall to the earth and depart just as he was when he first came into being (Ecclesiastes 5:15).

As he is about to depart with empty hands, he adds to his own wickedness, as if he did not consider that an end of life like his birth lies before him, and that he toils for nothing, serving some gust of wind rather than his own purpose (Ecclesiastes 5:16), after spending his whole life in most unholy desires and senseless impulses, and in griefs and sicknesses besides (Ecclesiastes 5:17). In short, for such a man the days are darkness and life is mourning. Yet this is good and not to be cast aside, for it is a gift of God: that a person can enjoy his own labors with gladness, having received possessions given by God and not seized by robbery (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19). For such a man is not sick with griefs, nor is he much enslaved to evil thoughts; he measures out his life in good deeds toward all, glad of heart and rejoicing in the gift of God (Ecclesiastes 5:20).

Wealth unenjoyed and the vanity of restless desire§6.1

A man who has everything yet never enjoys it fares worse than a stillborn child, and restless desire is vanity.

6.1I will bring forward in my discourse the misfortune that is most widespread among human beings (Ecclesiastes 6:1). It is when God supplies everything their hearts desire and takes from a man nothing whatever of what he has longed for, neither wealth, nor great renown, nor any of the other things people are infatuated with; and yet the man who prospers in everything, as though held fast by this one evil sent by God, that he does not enjoy them, stores them up for a companion of his, and falls, bearing no fruit for himself or for his neighbors (Ecclesiastes 6:2). I count this a great sign and a plain proof of surpassing wickedness. And that man who has been called the father of a great many children without mishap, and has lived a long time, yet in all that time his soul was not filled with goodness, untouched by death: I for my part would not envy him either his many children or his many days, and I rank above him an untimely embryo fallen from its mother's womb (Ecclesiastes 6:3). For as it came in vain, so it departs unnoticed into oblivion, having touched no evils and never looked upon the sun (Ecclesiastes 6:4-5). This is lighter than the lot of the wicked man, even if he should measure out his life at a thousand years and not come to know goodness (Ecclesiastes 6:6). The end of both is death.

The fool stands exposed above all in this, that he finds no fill for any desire (Ecclesiastes 6:7); but the self-controlled man is not held fast by these passions, and as a rule uprightness of life leads a person into poverty (Ecclesiastes 6:8). Spectacles for greedy eyes drive many out of their senses: they stir up the soul and drag it toward fruitless striving through the empty desire to be seen (Ecclesiastes 6:9). What has now come to be is already known, and it is plain that a man cannot stand against those who are above him (Ecclesiastes 6:10). Idle talk, indeed, goes round among people and increases the folly of those who indulge in it (Ecclesiastes 6:11).

Mourning and rebuke teach more than laughter§7.1

Mourning, rebuke and a sober mind teach more than laughter and revelry.

7.1A man who knows the pleasant things that will befall him in life gains nothing more by it, even if we grant that he knows them; and yet human curiosity still contrives to pry into what will happen even after each person's death, and to think it knows (Ecclesiastes 6:12). A good remembrance is sweeter to the soul than oil to the body, and the departure from life is better than birth (Ecclesiastes 7:1). It is a better choice to mourn than to revel, and to be with those who grieve rather than with those who are getting drunk (Ecclesiastes 7:2). For so it is: when someone has come to the end of life, he has no anxiety about the things around him.

Sensible anger is to be preferred to laughter, for by a stern look on the face the soul is set right (Ecclesiastes 7:3). So the souls of the wise are grave and hold themselves in, while the souls of fools are puffed up and run loose (Ecclesiastes 7:4). It is far more to be wished for to receive the rebuke of one wise man than to listen to a whole chorus of base and wretched men singing (Ecclesiastes 7:5). For the laughter of foolish men is like the crackling of many thorns burning in a fierce fire (Ecclesiastes 7:6). This too is wretched, and indeed a very great evil: false accusation. It plots against the souls of the wise and tries to destroy the noble steadfastness of the good (Ecclesiastes 7:7). One should praise a speaker not as he begins his words but as he ends them, and welcome a modest character rather than one that is lofty and puffed up (Ecclesiastes 7:8). One must by all means keep anger in check and not be carried away readily into wrath, which fools serve as slaves (Ecclesiastes 7:9).

Wisdom outweighs wealth; righteousness without excess§7.2

Wisdom is worth more than wealth, righteousness is not to be pushed beyond measure, and the fear of God keeps a person safe.

7.2Those who say that a better life was granted to the people of former times are mistaken (Ecclesiastes 7:10). They do not understand that wisdom far surpasses an abundance of money, and is as much more conspicuous as silver shines brighter than its own shadow (Ecclesiastes 7:11-12). For a person's life comes not from acquiring perishable wealth but from wisdom (Ecclesiastes 7:12). Tell me, who will be able to describe in full the providence of God, so great and so kind? Or who will call back what God seems, and justly, to have left neglected (Ecclesiastes 7:13)? In earlier days, when I did not act rightly, I observed all things: a righteous man holding fast to righteousness and not turning from it even until death, and even plotted against because of it; and an ungodly man dying together with his own wickedness (Ecclesiastes 7:15).

If you are righteous, you should not appear exceedingly so, nor too wise, beyond measure, lest you stumble somewhere and sin many times over (Ecclesiastes 7:16). Do not be bold and rash, lest an untimely death snatch you away (Ecclesiastes 7:17). The greatest good is to lay hold of God and, remaining in this, to commit no sin. For to touch what is undefiled with an unclean hand is an abomination. He who submits with the fear of God escapes every adversity (Ecclesiastes 7:18). Wisdom can give greater help than a band of the mightiest men in a city (Ecclesiastes 7:19), and it often justly pardons those who fall short of what they ought to do; for there is not one who never stumbles (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Give the words of the ungodly no hearing at all, so that you do not hear with your own ears what is said against you, like the chatter of a wicked slave, and then, stung to the heart, you too later turn aside in many of your dealings to curse in return (Ecclesiastes 7:21-22).

Lost wisdom and the woman who ensnares§7.3

Solomon tells how he cast away the wisdom God gave him and was caught by the woman who ensnares.

7.3I came to know all these things when I received wisdom from God; but later I cast it away, and was no longer able to be as I had been (Ecclesiastes 7:23). For wisdom fled from me to an endless distance and an unmeasured depth, so that it could no longer be grasped (Ecclesiastes 7:24). So afterward I gave up even seeking it altogether, and no longer gave thought to examining the follies of the ungodly, their vain counsels, and their aimless life (Ecclesiastes 7:25). Being in this state, I was carried away into those very things; and gripped by a deadly desire, I came to know the woman, who is a kind of earth, or something else of that sort (Ecclesiastes 7:26). For her heart casts a net over those who pass by, and by merely joining hand to hand she holds them as fast as if she had thrown chains around them and were dragging them off. You could be rescued from her only if you have God gracious to you and watching over you; for one who is enslaved to sin could not escape (Ecclesiastes 7:26).

I sought chastity among all women and found it in none (Ecclesiastes 7:27-28). One might find a chaste man among a thousand, but not a woman (Ecclesiastes 7:28). This above all I perceived: that human beings, made simple in their souls by God, draw upon themselves intricate reasonings and endless inquiries, and, while pretending to seek wisdom, wear themselves out over petty words (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Wisdom, the king's word, and the hour of death§8.1

Wisdom shines in the face; one must heed the king's word and avoid oaths, for no one can escape the hour of death.

8.1When wisdom is tested in a person, it shines out even through the face, lighting up the one who possesses it (Ecclesiastes 8:1); just as shamelessness, the moment its owner is seen, proves the one in whom it has made its home worthy of hatred. One must pay very careful heed to the words of the king, and avoid an oath in every way, above all one made in the name of God (Ecclesiastes 8:2). Even so, one should keep watch over an evil word, but guard against all blasphemy toward the Master (Ecclesiastes 8:3). For when he inflicts anything, there will be no finding fault, nor any speaking against the decrees of the only Sovereign and King (Ecclesiastes 8:4). It is better and more profitable to hold fast to the holy commandments and to stand clear of evil words (Ecclesiastes 8:5). For a wise man knows and foresees the judgment that comes in its time, that it will be just.

For all the affairs of human life await the punishment that comes from above (Ecclesiastes 8:6); but the wicked man does not seem to understand well that, since great providence watches over him, nothing whatever will escape notice in time to come. For he does not know what is coming, and no one will be able to declare any of it as it deserves (Ecclesiastes 8:7); for no one will be so strong as to be able to hinder the angel who takes away his soul, nor could any means at all be found to set aside the hour of death. Rather, like a man caught in the middle of a battle, one sees on every side what cannot be escaped; and all a man's ungodliness perishes with him (Ecclesiastes 8:8).

God's patience is no escape for the wicked§8.2

God's patience does not mean that the wicked will go unpunished.

8.2I am astounded whenever I see what sort of things, and how many, people have devised to harm their neighbors (Ecclesiastes 8:9). And I know that the ungodly are snatched away from here before their time and removed from the scene, because they had given themselves over to vanity (Ecclesiastes 8:10). For since God's providence, in its great forbearance, does not swiftly pursue everyone, nor punish offenses on the spot, the wicked man supposes for this reason that he ought to sin all the more, as though he will get off unpunished (Ecclesiastes 8:11). He does not understand that even after a very long time the wrong he has done will not go unnoticed (Ecclesiastes 8:12). Yet the greatest good is to revere God; the ungodly man who has fallen away from this will not long have the use of his own folly (Ecclesiastes 8:12-13).

A very bad and false opinion often spreads among people about the just and the unjust. For they suppose the reverse about each: one man who was just was not thought to be so, and again an ungodly man was held to be wise (Ecclesiastes 8:14). For my part, I count this error among the most grievous.

The mistake of living for food and drink§8.3

Solomon admits he once thought eating and drinking the greatest good, and learned that such a life never finds what is truly good.

8.3I once thought that the greatest of goods was eating and drinking, and that the man dearest to God was the one who enjoyed these things in life as much as he possibly could (Ecclesiastes 8:15). I held that such good cheer was the only comfort of life, and so I attended to nothing else but this notion, so that neither by night nor by day did I keep myself away from anything people have discovered for luxury (Ecclesiastes 8:16). And I learned this much: that someone who mires himself in those things will never be able, not even with much toil, to find what is truly good (Ecclesiastes 8:17).

The false belief that one end awaits all§9.1

Solomon rejects, as the reasoning of fools, his former belief that the righteous and the wicked meet the same end.

9.1For at that time I thought that all people were counted worthy of the same things; and if any wise man cared for righteousness, turned away from injustice, and avoided enmity by dealing graciously with everyone, which is pleasing to God, he seemed to labor in vain (Ecclesiastes 9:1). One end seemed to belong to the righteous and the ungodly, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, the one who seeks God's favor and the one who does not (Ecclesiastes 9:2). For when the unjust man and the good, the perjurer and the one who shuns every oath, were expected to be driven toward the same end, a kind of condemning verdict crept in: that all come to a like end (Ecclesiastes 9:3).

But now I know that these are the reasonings of fools, errors and deceptions. They say many things: that the one who has died is wholly gone, and that the living man is to be preferred to the dead, even if he lies in darkness, even if he goes through life like a dog, over the lion that is dead (Ecclesiastes 9:4). "For the living at least know this, that they will die; but the dead know nothing at all (Ecclesiastes 9:5). No recompense for anything lies ahead once a man has met his fated end. Both the hatred and the love felt toward the dead come to an end. For whatever zeal they had has failed; whatever life they had has vanished. One who has once departed from here has a share in nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:6)."

Error's advice: enjoy yourself, for nothing follows§9.2

Error, speaking in person, urges a life of pleasure because nothing follows death; Solomon calls this the talk of the vain.

9.2Still chanting these spells, Error gives advice like this: "What are you doing, my man? Why are you not living in luxury, gorging yourself on every kind of food and filling yourself with wine beyond measure (Ecclesiastes 9:7)? Do you not see that these things have been given by God for enjoyment without hindrance? Put on freshly washed clothes, anoint your head with perfume, and look at this woman, and at that one, and pass your vain life in vain (Ecclesiastes 9:8-9). For nothing else is left to you besides these things, neither here nor after death. Rather, do whatever lies at hand (Ecclesiastes 9:10). For no one will demand from you an account of these things, and what human beings do is not known at all outside of human beings. And Hades, whatever it may be, where we are said to go, has no share in wisdom or perception (Ecclesiastes 9:10)." That is what the vain say.

The poor wise man who could save a city§9.3

Wisdom outweighs strength and wealth: one poor wise man could save a besieged city.

9.3But I know well that those who seem swiftest will not finish that great race, and those reputed among men as mighty and fearsome will not win the fearful war; nor is prudence proved by an abundance of food, nor does understanding usually keep company with wealth (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Nor do I share the gladness of those who think that all people will meet the same lot (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Those who ponder such things seem to be fast asleep. They do not reckon that, snatched away like fish and birds, they will be worn down in misfortunes, suddenly receiving the penalty they deserve (Ecclesiastes 9:12).

But I hold wisdom so great a thing that even a small city, inhabited by few and besieged by the hand of a great king, I count populous and great if it has even one wise citizen, though he is poor (Ecclesiastes 9:13–15). For such a man could save his own city both from the enemy and from the siege works. Others do not recognize that poor wise man (Ecclesiastes 9:15); but I much prefer the strength that lies in wisdom to this common sort of power (Ecclesiastes 9:16). Here, it is true, wisdom that lives with poverty is held in dishonor (Ecclesiastes 9:16); but afterward it will be heard, its voice rising above rulers and tyrants who reach for evil (Ecclesiastes 9:17). For wisdom is stronger even than iron; and the folly of one man brings danger on many, even if many despise it (Ecclesiastes 9:18).

Wisdom and folly; the world turned upside down§10.1

Wisdom and folly cannot be named together, and the father of wickedness raises fools and brings the prudent low.

10.1For flies that fall into ointment and drown in it make both the look and the use of that sweet anointing unsightly (Ecclesiastes 10:1); but it is not fitting to make any mention of wisdom and folly in the same breath. The wise man guides himself to the right in his affairs, but the fool has turned aside to the left (Ecclesiastes 10:2), and there is never a time when he will use folly as a guide to good things. Even his thoughts are empty, filled with folly (Ecclesiastes 10:3).

If ever a hostile spirit should fall upon you, my friend, stand firm against it with strength, knowing that God is able to pardon even a great multitude of sins (Ecclesiastes 10:4). These are the works of a tyrant and of the father of all wickedness: that the fool is raised on high and the man rich in prudence is brought low (Ecclesiastes 10:5–6); that slaves of sins are seen riding on horseback, while holy men go on foot in dishonor, as the wicked exult (Ecclesiastes 10:7).

The plotter harms himself; the fool's chatter§10.2

The plotter harms himself first, and the fool ruins himself by his own chatter.

10.2If anyone plots against another, he fails to see that he is laying an ambush first and only for himself (Ecclesiastes 10:8). The man who tears down another's security will fall prey to a serpent's bite (Ecclesiastes 10:8). Moreover, the man who quarries stones will bear no small toil, and the man who splits wood also carries danger in his very own tool (Ecclesiastes 10:9). If the axe happens to leap from its handle, the man at this work will be thrown into confusion (Ecclesiastes 10:10); he gathers to no good end, and he himself increases his own unjust and short-lived power.

A serpent's bite comes unseen; the charmers will bring no comfort, for they are useless (Ecclesiastes 10:11). But the good man does good both to himself and to his neighbors, while the fool will fall into ruin through his own chatter (Ecclesiastes 10:12). Once he opens his mouth, he begins foolishly and soon stops, showing his own senselessness at every turn (Ecclesiastes 10:13–14).

Good and bad rulers; guard your words about the king§10.3

Good and bad rulers are set side by side, with a warning to guard even private words about the king.

10.3It is impossible for a human being to know, or to learn from another human being, anything of what was from the beginning or of what is still to come. For who will be there to tell him (Ecclesiastes 10:14)? The man who does not know how to make his way to the good city suffers harm in his eyes and in his whole face (Ecclesiastes 10:15). I foretell evils for that city whose king is young and whose rulers are gluttons (Ecclesiastes 10:16). But I call blessed the good land whose king is the son of a free man, where those found worthy to rule will enjoy good things at the proper time (Ecclesiastes 10:17).

The sluggish and the idle bring a house to decline, turning into mockers (Ecclesiastes 10:18). Squandering everything on their own gluttony, easily led by silver, they stoop to doing anything, shamefully and basely, for the sake of a small price (Ecclesiastes 10:19). It is right to obey a king, rulers, or men in power, and not to make oneself hateful to them, nor to fling any wounding word at them at all. For there is reason to fear that what is said even in private may somehow come into the open (Ecclesiastes 10:20). For to the only King, rich and great, swift and winged angels carry everything, performing a service at once spiritual and rational.

Share your bread freely, for no one knows the future§11.1

Share your bread generously, since no one knows what the coming day will bring.

11.1It is right, indeed, to share bread and the other necessities that human beings need for life. For even if for the moment you seem to some to be throwing it away, as though you were handing your bread over to the water (Ecclesiastes 11:1), yet as time goes on your kindness will not prove profitless to you. Give unsparingly, and divide what is yours among many; for you do not know what the coming day will bring about (Ecclesiastes 11:2).

Clouds do not hold back their abundant rain, but let the shower fall upon the earth; nor does any tree stand forever, but even if men spare it, the wind at least will overturn it (Ecclesiastes 11:3). Many wish to know beforehand even what will come from heaven. One man watches the clouds and waits for the wind, and keeps away from reaping or winnowing (Ecclesiastes 11:4); he is sure of nothing, and he does not know any of the things that will come from God, just as he does not know what kind of child the pregnant woman will bear (Ecclesiastes 11:5). When you have sown in season, gather in the fruits whenever their season comes; for it is not clear which of the crops that have grown will turn out better (Ecclesiastes 11:6). May everything turn out for good.

Answer to the pleasure-seeker: God will judge§11.2

Solomon answers the pleasure-seeker who urges the young to indulge themselves: God will judge all these things.

11.2Someone reasons that the sun is fair (Ecclesiastes 11:7) and this life is sweet, that it is good to live a long time and rejoice all the while (Ecclesiastes 11:8), and that death is fearful, an everlasting evil that brings one to nothing. So he thinks that one ought to enjoy everything that is present and seems pleasant. He also advises the young to make full use of their prime, letting their souls loose into every pleasure, to gratify their desires, to do whatever seems good to them, to look at whatever delights them, and to turn away from whatever does not (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

To him I will say only this: You there, you are out of your senses, for you do not expect the judgment that will come from God for all these things (Ecclesiastes 11:9). Profligacy and licentiousness are evil, and the filthy abuse of our bodies is deadly (Ecclesiastes 11:10). For senselessness follows close on youth, and senselessness leads to ruin (Ecclesiastes 11:10).

Fear God before the great and terrible day§12.1

Fear God while young, before the great and terrible day when the heavens are shaken and the wicked are punished.

12.1One must fear God while still young (Ecclesiastes 12:1), before giving oneself over to evils, before the great and terrible day of God comes, when the sun will shine no more, nor the moon, nor the rest of the stars (Ecclesiastes 12:2; Matthew 24:29), and the higher powers, the angels who guard the world, will be shaken in that storm and turmoil of all things (Ecclesiastes 12:3). So men of power will cease, and the women at their work will cease too (Ecclesiastes 12:3), fleeing into the dark corners of the houses with all the doors shut (Ecclesiastes 12:4). A woman who has stopped grinding for fear will speak in the faintest voice, like the smallest bird (Ecclesiastes 12:4). All the impure women will fall to the ground (Ecclesiastes 12:4), and so will cities and their bloodstained governments, as they await the punishment from above, when a most bitter and bloody season has set in, like an almond tree in flower, when punishments press on without pause, like a swarm of locusts flying down, and when the lawless are flung out of the way like a black and worthless caper bush (Ecclesiastes 12:5).

The good man will go rejoicing to his own eternal home; but the wicked will fill all that is theirs with beating of breasts (Ecclesiastes 12:5), and neither silver laid up in store nor tested gold will be of use any longer (Ecclesiastes 12:6). For a great blow will seize everything, even down to the jar standing at a spring, and the wheel of a carriage that happens to have been left in the hollow (Ecclesiastes 12:6), when the age that brings the washing has passed beyond the time of the circling, now at an end, and of the life given through water.

For human beings who lie upon the earth there is one salvation: that their souls come to know Him by whom they were begotten, and fly up to Him (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Closing words: fear God and keep His commandments§12.2

Solomon closes the book: fear God and keep His commandments, for every person will be judged.

12.2So I say again what I have said before: human beings are in a state of utter emptiness, and the emptiness of the things they devise could not be greater (Ecclesiastes 12:8). My labor is wasted as I preach wisely to the assembly, since I am trying to teach this people, who are unteachable and past cure (Ecclesiastes 12:9). It takes a man of noble spirit to be able to understand words of wisdom. Now that I am old and have passed through a long span of life, I have labored to find out what is pleasing to God through the mysteries of the truth (Ecclesiastes 12:10). I know that the precepts of the wise rouse souls and prick them no less than bodies are stirred when pierced by an ox goad or a nail (Ecclesiastes 12:11). Some will hand on those wise teachings, having received them from one good Shepherd and Teacher (Ecclesiastes 12:11); all of them, as if from one mouth, will set out more fully, in agreement with one another, what has been entrusted to them.

There is no profit in many words (Ecclesiastes 12:12). Nor do I advise you, my friend, to write down useless things about what is fitting, in which there is nothing more than labor spent in vain (Ecclesiastes 12:12). It remains for me to add a conclusion such as this: O people, here I declare to you plainly and briefly: fear God, the Master and Overseer of all things, and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13). And be persuaded that every person will afterward be judged, and that each will receive, as he deserves, the recompense of his own works, good and bad alike (Ecclesiastes 12:14).