The Teacher uses the words wise and wisdom many times. In the Word List, you can read what these words mean. Often people who do not know God try to be wise. But if you want to be really wise, you need to know God. The Teacher wants us to know God. And he wants us to believe God. Also, he wants us to obey God. He wants us to enjoy the good things that God has given to us. We will still have questions about our life on the earth. Some of them are questions that nobody can answer. But God will be with us during our lives. At some future time, each of us will die. The Teacher is not sure what will happen then. He says, ‘Our spirits will return to God’ (Ecclesiastes 12:7). In the New Testament, we learn what else will happen.
1 These are the Teacher’s words. The Teacher was David’s son. The Teacher was a king. He lived in a city that was called Jerusalem. There he ruled his country.
2 ‘Nothing has a purpose’, he said. 3 People work for their whole lives. 4 People are born and they live on the earth. At the end of their lives, they die. 5 The sun still rises in the morning and it goes down in the evening. 6 The wind blows to the south and it turns to the north. 7 All rivers go to the sea, but they never fill the sea. 8 Life makes us tired. It makes us so tired that we could not tell anyone about it. 9 Future events will be the same as past events were. 10 We can say, ‘Look! Here is something new.’ 11 We do not remember what they did many years ago. 12 I said these things when I was the king of my country, Israel. I lived in the city called Jerusalem. There I ruled my country.
13 I also studied a lot and I was very wise. I thought about the things that happen here on the earth. And I tried to understand them. But God has made this very difficult for us to do.
14 I have seen all the things that happen on the earth. There is no reason for any of them. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
15 People may do things that are wrong. 16 ‘I have become a really great man’, I told myself. ‘There have been other kings who have ruled in Jerusalem. But I am more wise than any of them’, I thought.
17 I wanted to learn all that I could learn about wisdom. I also wanted to know how a fool thinks. But this, too, was like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
18 If I learn to be very wise, I will be very sad. 1 ‘I will enjoy my life’, I thought. ‘I will make myself happy. That will be good.’ But it was not good. I enjoyed myself, but my life was not worth anything.
2 It was silly to laugh all the time. I could look for things to make me happy. But they would not make my life worth anything.
3 So I decided to drink wine to make myself happy. I wanted to understand how a fool thinks. But I did not want to be a fool myself. We only live for a short time on the earth. And I wanted to know the best way to use that time.
4 I made some great things. I built houses for myself and I planted many vines.
5 I made gardens and parks. I planted many fruit trees in the gardens and parks.
6 I made large pools to give water for the trees.
7 I bought male slaves and female slaves. Their sons and their daughters became my slaves too. Many people lived in Jerusalem before I did. And many of them had animals. But I had more cows and sheep than anyone else had.
8 I ruled many countries. And I got silver and gold for myself from their kings. Men and women sang for me. I got many wives to make me happy. These are all things that people enjoy.
9 I was the most famous person who had ever lived in Jerusalem. And I was very wise.
10 If I wanted to have something, I took it. 11 Then I thought about the things that I had done. 12 Then I decided to think about how a wise person lives. 13 I know that light is better than the dark. 14 A wise man looks where he is going. 15 Then I thought to myself, ‘Like the fool, I will die. 16 People do not remember wise men or fools. 17 So I was not happy with my life. And my work on the earth does not make me happy now. All of my work was worth nothing. It was like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
18 I will die in the end. Then some other person will enjoy the things that I have made.
19 That person may be a wise man or he may be a fool. But he will have all the things that I have worked for on the earth. This, too, is not good. The fact that I was wise means nothing.
20 So I became sad about all my work on the earth.
21 A man may know how to do his job well. He may do his work well and after that, he dies. Then all that he had will become another man’s things. And that man will not have worked for it. This too means nothing and it is very sad.
22 People have to do a lot of work on this earth. But they get nothing that they can keep.
23 Every day, their work disappoints them and it makes them sad. Even at night, their minds do not rest. All their work means nothing. 24 We should eat and we should drink. And we should enjoy our work. There is nothing better that we can do than those things. I believe that these are gifts from God.
25 Without God’s help, nobody can have enough food to eat. And nobody can be happy.
26 If we obey God, he will help us. He will make us wise. He will make us clever. And he will help us to enjoy our life. But if we do not obey God, our lives will be difficult. He will give what is ours to another person. This, too, is not good. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind. 1 There is a right time for everything that we do under the sun.
2 There is a time to be born. And there is a time to die. 3 There is a time to kill. And there is a time to make people well. 4 There is a time to weep. And there is a time to laugh. 5 There is a time to throw stones away. And there is a time to pick them up. 6 There is a time to look for something. You look for something that you have lost. 7 There is a time to tear something down. And there is a time to mend it. 8 There is a time to love. And there is a time to hate. 9 People get nothing for all the work that they do.
10 Their work is very difficult. And God has caused it to be like that.
11 But he also causes all things to happen at the right time. He puts questions in our minds. We want to know what happens after our death. We cannot understand all the things that God has done.
12 We should enjoy our lives. There is nothing better that we can do than that. We should also do good things during our lives.
13 We should get pleasure from what we eat. We should enjoy what we drink. And we should be happy when we are doing our work. These are all gifts from God.
14 Everything that God does will be for all time. We cannot do anything more than what God has done. We cannot take anything away from what he has done. God wants us to worship him. That is the reason for all that he does.
15 Future events will be the same as past events were. 16 I saw something else about the people who live in this world. 17 ‘God will be the judge of all good people and of all bad people’, I told myself. 18 ‘Perhaps God wants us to know that we are like animals’, I thought.
19 Like animals, we live and then we die. We really are the same as animals. So our life means nothing for us or for them.
20 People and animals go to the same place. God made animals and people from the same dry material on the ground. And when they die, they both become dry material on the ground again.
21 We need to know what happens after our death. We think that the spirit of a man goes up. And we think that the spirit of an animal goes down towards the ground. But nobody really knows.
22 So we should enjoy our work. That is the best thing that we can do. That is what God wants us to do. But we do not know what there is after death. 1 In every place on the earth, I saw cruel people. 2 ‘It is better to be dead. That is better than to be alive’, I said to myself.
3 ‘The most happy people are those who have not been born. 4 We do not like other people to have more than we have. That is why we work for many hours each day. That is why we try to do very many things. This, too, is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
5 Fools refuse to work. 6 It is better to be happy with a little food. 7 Again, on the earth I saw something else that has no purpose.
8 Some people live alone. 9 It is good to have a friend. 10 If you fall, a friend can help you. 11 If two people sleep together, they keep each other warm. 12 A strong person might hurt you. 13 You may be poor and you may be young. But anyway it is a good thing to be wise. A king will not always listen when people speak to him. If you are wise, you are better. You are better than that kind of king. He is a fool.
14 You may have been in a prison and you may be very poor. Your father may not be a king, but you could become a king.
15 I once knew a young person. That young person became a powerful king after another king had died.
16 Many people thought that he was a good king. Nobody could even count the people who thought that. But in future years, nobody will remember him. This, too, is like somebody who tries to catch the wind. 1 Be careful about anything that you do in the temple. Listen well when you worship God. Some fools go to the temple and they give sacrifices to God. But they do it for the wrong reasons. They do not know that they have done a wrong thing!
2 You should think before you speak. 3 If you think about your troubles too much, you will dream about bad things. 4 You should do what you have promised to God. You should do it when you can. You should not wait before you do it. Only a fool would not do what he had promised to God.
5 Do not promise to do something that you might not do. It would be better not to promise anything.
6 Only say things that are true. You should not say to the priest, ‘The promise that I said was a mistake.’ That would make God angry. God might destroy the things that you have worked for.
7 It is silly to dream all the time. Remember that. It is also silly to talk all the time. But you should obey God because he is a great God.
8 The poor people who live in your country may be hungry. But the government does not help them, and the government is not fair to them. Do not be surprised about that. The government’s officers do not decide what to do. Other more important people tell them what they must do. The king is the most important person in the country.
9 When people pay money to the government, the king receives a lot of it.
10 You may love money. 11 If you have a lot of money, other people will want some of it. 12 A man who has worked all day will sleep well at night. 13 I have seen something else that is not fair on the earth. 14 At a future time, they may discover that they have lost all their money. 15 They were born with nothing. 16 That is not fair. 17 During their lives, they are always sad, angry and sick.
18 God has given to us a short life on this earth. I think that we should enjoy our lives. We should eat and drink. And we should do our work well. That is what God wants us to do.
19 If you are rich, you will have many things. You should enjoy those things. You should enjoy your work, too. This is a gift from God to you.
20 God will keep you busy and he will make you happy. You will be too busy to think about your troubles each day. 1 On this earth, there is something else that is not fair.
2 God may give to you all the things that you want. He may give riches to you. And he may give to you money to spend. He may give to you a house to live in. But he may not let you enjoy those things. Somebody that you do not even know may get them all. That is not fair and it will confuse you a lot.
3 You may live for a long time and you may have many children. But you may not enjoy your life. When you die, people may not bury you properly. A child that is dead at its birth does not have a good life. But your life is worse than that.
4 A child like that will never live to see the sun.
5 It will not even have a name. It will leave this earth and it will go to a dark place. But that child will have more peace than you do.
6 You may live for a very long time, but you may not enjoy your life. We all go to the same place after we die. This is what will happen. Remember that.
7 We work so that we will have food. 8 Our lives have not been more happy because we have been wise. 9 It is not good always to want more things. 10 God decided a long time ago what we should be like. 11 If we talk too much, we will say silly things. 12 We live for only a few years and our lives mean nothing. Our lives are like shadows that pass over the earth. We do not know the best way to live. We do not know what will happen after our death. 1 You may be a nice person. 2 You may enjoy a party. 3 It is better to be sad than it is to be happy. 4 A wise person thinks about death. 5 You can listen to a fool who is singing songs. 6 Some sharp, hard plants make a lot of noise when they burn. But they do not make much heat. 7 Wise people become fools if they are not fair to other people. 8 It is good when you start to do some new work. 9 Do not get angry quickly. That is what fools do. 10 You may think that your life is difficult. 11 It is as good to be wise as it is to receive a lot of money.
12 Money can keep you safe. And wisdom can keep you safe. 13 Think about the things that God has done. 14 If your life is good, you should be happy. 15 I do not know why I am alive. 16 Be careful that you do not kill yourself. 17 Be careful that you do not die too soon. 18 Try to live your life in a way that is in the middle. 19 A wise man can do greater things than ten leaders in a city can do.
20 But even good men do not always do what is right. 21 Do not listen to all the things that people say about you. 22 Do not forget that you, too, have said bad things.
23 I wanted to be wise. 24 But I could not discover a good reason. 25 So I decided to learn many things. 26 I learned that it is dangerous to meet a bad woman. 27 I used all my wisdom. And I looked for answers to my questions.
28 But I have failed. 29 I did learn one thing. 1 A person’s wisdom will cause his face to be like a happy man’s face. 2 Perhaps you promised to God that you would obey the king. You should do what you promised to do.
3 If you are with the king, do not leave too quickly. The king can do anything that he wants to do. So do not join a group of people who do not want to obey him.
4 Do not argue with the king because he is very powerful. Nobody can tell him that he must not do something.
5 Everyone who obeys the king will be safe. 6 You may have a difficult life.2
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