Study Desk

This, too, I carefully explored: Even though the actions of godly and wise people are in God's hands, no one knows whether God will show them favor.

The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad, ceremonially clean or unclean, religious or irreligious. Good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God are treated like people who don't.

So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this!

Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil.

Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother's womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

Young people, it's wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.

For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

That's the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty.

God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

Listen to the Lord , you leaders of "Sodom." Listen to the law of our God, people of "Gomorrah."

People from many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord , to the house of Jacob's God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For the Lord 's teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.

But the Lord of Heaven's Armies will be exalted by his justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by his righteousness.

They even mock God and say, "Hurry up and do something! We want to see what you can do. Let the Holy One of Israel carry out his plan, for we want to know what it is."

"Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead."

Then Isaiah said, "Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn't it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well?

All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us').

Call your councils of war, but they will be worthless. Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed. For God is with us!"

Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his instructions to those who follow me.

Someone may say to you, "Let's ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do." But shouldn't people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven