Study Desk

This is what I have seen to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, drink and enjoy the good that results from all his work that he engages in under the sun for all the days of his life that God has given him, for this is his allotted portion.

for he will not brood over the fact that his life is short, since God keeps him occupied with what will bring him joy.

class="poetry"> Don't speak impulsively — don't be in a hurry to give voice to your words before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth; so let your words be few. For nightmares come from worrying too much; and a fool, when he speaks, chatters too much. If you make a vow to God, don't delay in discharging it. For God takes no pleasure in fools, so discharge your vow! Better not to make a vow than to make a vow and not discharge it. Don't let your words make you guilty, and don't tell the temple official that you made the vow by mistake. Why give God reason to be angry at what you say and destroy what you have accomplished? For [this is what happens when there are too] many dreams, aimless activities and words. Instead, just fear God! If you see the poor oppressed, rights violated and justice perverted in the province, don't be surprised; for a high official has one higher watching him, and there are others above them. But the greatest advantage to the country is when the king makes himself a servant to the land. The lover of money never has enough money; the lover of luxury never has enough income. This too is pointless. When the quantity of goods increases, so does the number of parasites consuming them; so the only advantage to the owner is that he gets to watch them do it. The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the overfullness of the rich won't let them sleep at all. Here is a gross evil which I have seen under the sun: the owner of wealth hoards it to his own hurt. Due to some misfortune, the wealth turns to loss; and then if he has fathered a son, he has nothing to leave him. Just as he came from his mother's womb, so he will go back naked as he came, and for his efforts he will take nothing that he can carry away in his hand. This too is a gross evil, that in every respect as he came, so will he go; thus what profit does he have after toiling to earn the wind? All his life he eats in darkness, in frustration, in sickness and in anger. This is what I have seen to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, drink and enjoy the good that results from all his work that he engages in under the sun for all the days of his life that God has given him, for this is his allotted portion. Also, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, along with the power to enjoy it, so that he takes his allotted portion and finds pleasure in his work — this is a gift of God; for he will not brood over the fact that his life is short, since God keeps him occupied with what will bring him joy.

For the arrival of a stillborn baby is a futile thing, and its departure is in darkness; its name is [forgotten,] covered in darkness;

For who knows what is good for someone during life, during the days of his pointless life spent like a shadow? Who can tell what will happen under the sun after a person is gone?

Better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for all are destined to be mourned; the living should lay this to heart.

Grief is better than laughter, for sadness can improve a person.

For the laughter of fools is like the crackling of thorns burning under a pot; this too is pointless.

Don't be quick to get angry, for [only] fools nurse anger.

For wisdom is a shelter, and money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps the one who has it alive.

Don't grasp just one of these rules; take hold of the other as well; for he who is in fear of God will live by both of them.

For there isn't a righteous person on earth who does [only] good and never sins.

Don't be quick to leave his presence, and don't persist in doing what is wrong, for he does whatever he pleases.

For to everything there is a right time and a judgment, since people are greatly troubled

because the punishment decreed for an evil act is not promptly carried out; therefore people who plan to do evil are strengthened in their intentions.

For a sinner can do evil a hundred times and still live a long life; although I know that in the end things will go well with those who fear God, because they fear him.

So I recommend enjoyment — a person can do nothing better under the sun than eat, drink and enjoy himself; this is what should accompany him as he does his work for as long as God gives him to live under the sun.

Anything can happen to anyone; the same thing can happen to the righteous as to the wicked, to the good and clean and to the unclean, to someone who offers a sacrifice and to someone who doesn't offer a sacrifice; it is the same for a good person as for a sinner, for someone who takes an oath rashly as for someone who fears to take an oath.

For as long as a person is linked with the living, there is hope — better to be a living dog than a dead lion!

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; there is no longer any reward for them, because all memory of them is lost.