Study Desk

If you see ^(C1)oppression of the poor and ^(C2)denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be ^(C3)shocked at the ^(F1)sight; for one ^(F2)official watches over another ^(F2)official, and there are higher ^(F3)officials over them.

After all, a king who cultivates the field is beneficial to the land.

^(C1)One who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor one who loves abundance with its income. This too is futility.

^(C1)When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to ^(F1)look at them?

The sleep of the laborer is ^(C1)sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the ^(F1)full stomach of the rich person does not allow him to sleep.

There is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun: ^(C1)wealth being ^(F1)hoarded by its owner to his detriment.

When that wealth was lost through bad business and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing ^(F1)to support him.

^(C1)As he came naked from his mother's womb, so he will return as he came. He will ^(C2)take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.

This also is a sickening evil: exactly as a person ^(F1)is born, so will he ^(F2)die. ^(C1)What then is the advantage for him who ^(C2)labors for the wind?

All his life ^(C1)he also eats in darkness with ^(C2)great irritation, sickness, and anger.

Here is what I have seen to be ^(C1)good and ^(F1)fitting: to eat, to drink, and ^(F2)enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he labors under the sun during the few ^(F3)years of his life which God has given him; for this is his ^(F4)(C2)reward.

Furthermore, as for every person to whom ^(C1)God has given riches and wealth, He has also ^(C2)given him the opportunity to ^(F1)enjoy them and to receive his ^(F2)reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the ^(C3)gift of God.

For he will not often call to mind the ^(F1)years of his life, because ^(C1)God keeps ^(F2)him busy with the joy of his heart.