Study Desk

I told myself, "God is going to judge the righteous and the evil alike, because every thing, every action, will happen at its own set time."

I decided that God is testing us, to show us that we are no better than animals.

Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to.

So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do.

Don't let your own words lead you into sin, so that you have to tell God's priest that you didn't mean it. Why make God angry with you? Why let him destroy what you have worked for?

No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still stand in awe of God.

Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate.

If God gives us wealth and property and lets us enjoy them, we should be grateful and enjoy what we have worked for. It is a gift from God.

Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.

God will give us wealth, honor, and property, yes, everything we want, but then will not let us enjoy it. Some stranger will enjoy it instead. It is useless, and it just isn't right.

Think about what God has done. How can anyone straighten out what God has made crooked?

When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next.

Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be successful anyway.

I found something more bitter than death—the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net, and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner.

This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

Do what the king says, and don't make any rash promises to God.

A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: "If you obey God, everything will be all right,

but it will not go well for the wicked. Their life is like a shadow and they will die young, because they do not obey God."

So I am convinced that we should enjoy ourselves, because the only pleasure we have in this life is eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves. We can at least do this as we labor during the life that God has given us in this world.

and never be able to understand what God is doing. However hard you try, you will never find out. The wise may claim to know, but they don't.