Study Desk

Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord , and you will gain knowledge of God.

She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God.

Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.

Don't trap yourself by making a rash promise to God and only later counting the cost.

Don't excuse yourself by saying, "Look, we didn't know." For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.

God detests the prayers of a person who ignores the law.

The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh contain this message. I am weary, O God; I am weary and worn out, O God.

Who but God goes up to heaven and comes back down? Who holds the wind in his fists? Who wraps up the oceans in his cloak? Who has created the whole wide world? What is his name—and his son's name? Tell me if you know!

Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection.

O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die.

I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race.

So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.

God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God's purpose is that people should fear him.

What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

I said to myself, "In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds."

I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals.