Study Desk

Here is what I have seen to be good, which is beautiful: to eat, to drink, and to see good in all one's labor in which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.

Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to take up his portion and be glad in his labor; this is the gift of God.

For he will not remember much the days of his life because God allows him to occupy himself with the gladness of his heart.

a man to whom God gives riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God does not empower him to eat from them, for a foreigner eats from them. This is vanity and a sickening evil.

See the work of God,For who is able to straighten what He has bent?

In the day when there is good be of good cheer,But in the day when there is evil see—God has made the one as well as the otherSo that man will not find out anything that will be after him.

It is good that you seize one thing and also not let go of the other; for the one who fears God comes forth with both of them.

And I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is good before God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

See, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices."

I say, "Keep the command of the king because of the sworn oath before God.

Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may prolong his life, still I know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly.

But it will not be well for the wicked man, and he will not prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God openly.

So I laud gladness, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will join with him in his labor throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

and I saw every work of God, I concluded that man cannot find out the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not find it out; and though the wise man should say, "I know," he cannot find it out.

For I have given all this to my heart and explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their service are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything may be before him.

Go then, eat your bread in gladness and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who works all things.

Be glad, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be merry during the days of young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things.

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

The end of the matter, all that has been heard: fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the end of the matter for all mankind.