The book of Ecclesiastes contains the thoughts of “the Philosopher,” a man who reflected deeply on how short and contradictory human life is, with its mysterious injustices and frustrations, and concluded that “life is useless.” He could not understand the ways of God, who controls human destiny. Yet, in spite of this, he advised people to work hard, and to enjoy the gifts of God as much and as long as they could.

Many of the Philosopher's thoughts appear negative and even depressing. But the fact that this book is in the Bible shows that biblical faith is broad enough to take into account such pessimism and doubt. Many have taken comfort in seeing themselves in the mirror of Ecclesiastes, and have discovered that the same Bible which reflects these thoughts also offers the hope in God that gives life its greater meaning. Life is Useless

1   These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.

2   It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless.

3   You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it?

4   Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same. ^note

5   The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again.

6   The wind blows south, the wind blows north—round and round and back again.

7   Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again.

8   Everything leads to weariness—a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough.

9   What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world.

10   “Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born.

11   No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then. The Philosopher's Experience

12   I, the Philosopher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13   I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world.

13   God has laid a miserable fate upon us.

14   I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.

15   You can't straighten out what is crooked; you can't count things that aren't there.

16   I told myself, “I have become a great man, far wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are.” ^note

17   I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind.

18   The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.

1   I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too.

2   I discovered that laughter is foolish, that pleasure does you no good.

3   Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.

4   I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards.

5   I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them;

6   I dug ponds to irrigate them.

7   I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem. ^note

8   I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want. ^{note note}

9   Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me. ^note

10   Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward.

11   Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind—of no use at all.

12   After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done.

12   So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.

13   Oh, I know, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.

14   Wise men can see where they are going, and fools cannot.” But I also know that the same fate is waiting for us all.

15   I thought to myself, “What happens to fools is going to happen to me, too. So what have I gained from being so wise?” “Nothing,” I answered, “not a thing.”

16   No one remembers wise men, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die—wise and foolish alike.

17   So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.

18   Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor,

19   and he might be wise, or he might be foolish —who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless.

20   So I came to regret that I had worked so hard.

21   You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right!

22   You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it?

23   As long as you

live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless. ^note

24   The best thing a man can do is eat and drink and enjoy what he has earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God. ^note

25   How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all?

26   God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind. ^note A Time for Everything

1   Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.

2   
He sets the time for birth and the time for death,
the time for planting and the time for pulling up,

3   
the time for killing and the time for healing,
the time for tearing down and the time for building.

4   
He sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy,
the time for mourning and the time for dancing,

5   
the time for making love and the time for not making love,
the time for kissing and the time for not kissing.

6   
He sets the time for finding and the time for losing,
the time for saving and the time for throwing away,

7   
the time for tearing and the time for mending,
the time for silence and the time for talk.

8   
He sets the time for love and the time for hate,
the time for war and the time for peace.

9   What do we gain from all our work?

10   I know the heavy burdens that God has laid on us.

11   He has set the right time for everything. He has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does.

12   So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.

13   All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.

14   I know that everything God does will last forever. You can't add anything to it or take anything away from it. And one thing God does is to make us have reverence for him.

15   Whatever happens or can happen has already happened before. God makes the same thing happen again and again. Injustice in the World

16   In addition, I have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and right ought to be.

17   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.” ^note

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

19   After all, the same fate awaits man and animal alike. One dies just like the other. They are the same kind of creature. A human being is no better off than an animal, because life has no meaning for either.

20   They are both going to the same place—the dust. They both came from it; they will both go back to it.

21   How can anyone be sure that a man's spirit goes upward

while an animal's spirit goes down into the ground?

22   So I realized then that the best thing we can do is enjoy what we have worked for. There is nothing else we can do. ^noteThere is no way for us to know what will happen after we die.

1   Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side.

2   I envy those who are dead and gone; they are better off than those who are still alive.

3   But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this world.

4   I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

5   They say that a man would be a fool to fold his hands and let himself starve to death.

6   Maybe so, but it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.

7   I have noticed something else in life that is useless.

8   Here is a man who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too—and a miserable way to live.

9   Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively.

10   If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him.

11   If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself?

12   Two men can resist an attack that would defeat one man alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break.

13    14   A man may rise from poverty to become king of his country, or go from prison to the throne, but if in his old age he is too foolish to take advice, he is not as well off as a young man who is poor but intelligent.

15   I thought about all the people who live in this world, and I realized that somewhere among them there is a young man who will take the king's place.

16   There may be no limit to the number of people a king rules; when he is gone, no one will be grateful for what he has done. It is useless. It is like chasing the wind. Don't Make Rash Promises

1   Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don't know right from wrong.

2   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.

3   The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

4   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. ^note

5   Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it.

6   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?

7   No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still have reverence for God. Life Is Useless

8   Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by the one over him, and both are protected by still higher officials.

9   Even a king depends on the harvest. ^note

10   If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.

11   The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich.

12   A working man may or may not have enough to eat, but at least he can get a good night's sleep. A rich man, however, has so much that he stays awake worrying.

13   Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it, ^note

14   and then lose it all in some bad deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children.

15   We leave this world just as we entered it—with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us. ^note

16   It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get?

17   We get to live our lives in darkness and grief, ^note worried, angry, and sick.

18   Here is what I have found out: the best thing anyone can do is eat and drink and enjoy what he has worked for during the short life that God has given him; this is man's fate.

19   If God gives a man wealth and property and lets him enjoy them, he should be grateful and enjoy what he has worked for. It is a gift from God.

20   Since God has allowed him to be happy, he will not worry too much about how short life is.

1   I have noticed that in this world a serious injustice is done.

2   God will give someone wealth, honor, and property, yes, everything he wants, but then will not let him enjoy it. Some stranger will enjoy it instead. It is useless, and it just isn't right.

3   A man may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long he lives, if he does not get his share of happiness and does not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off.

4   It does that baby no good to be born; it disappears into darkness, where it is forgotten.

5   It never sees the light of day or knows what life is like, but at least it has found rest—

6   more so than the man who never enjoys life, though he may live two thousand years. After all, both of them are going to the same place.

7   A man does all his work just to get something to eat, but he never has enough.

8   How is a wise man better off than a fool? What good does it do a poor man to know how to face life?

9   It is useless; it is like chasing the wind. It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else.

10   Everything that happens was already determined long ago, and we all know that a man ^note cannot argue with someone who is stronger than he.

11   The longer you argue, the more useless it is, and you are no better off.

12   How can anyone know what is

best for a man in this short, useless life of his—a life that passes like a shadow? How can anyone know what will happen in the world after he dies? Thoughts about Life

1   A good reputation is better than expensive perfume; and the day you die is better than the day you are born. ^note

2   It is better to go to a home where there is mourning than to one where there is a party, because the living should always remind themselves that death is waiting for us all.

3   Sorrow is better than laughter; it may sadden your face, but it sharpens your understanding.

4   Someone who is always thinking about happiness is a fool. A wise person thinks about death.

5   It is better to have wise people reprimand you than to have stupid people sing your praises.

6   When a fool laughs, it is like thorns crackling in a fire. It doesn't mean a thing.

7   When a wise man cheats someone, he is acting like a fool. If you take a bribe, you ruin your character.

8   The end of something is better than its beginning. Patience is better than pride.

9   Keep your temper under control; it is foolish to harbor a grudge. ^note

10   Never ask, “Oh, why were things so much better in the old days?” It's not an intelligent question.

11   Everyone who lives ought to be wise; it is as good as receiving an inheritance

12   and will give you as much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe—this is the advantage of knowledge.

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

14   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. ^note

15   My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. A good man may die while another man lives on, even though he is evil.

16   So don't be too good or too wise—why kill yourself?

17   But don't be too wicked or too foolish, either—why die before you have to?

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

19   Wisdom does more for a person than ten rulers can do for a city.

20   There is no one on earth who

does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.

21   Don't pay attention to everything people say—you may hear your servant insulting you,

22   and you know yourself that you have insulted other people many times.

23   I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me.

24   How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand.

25   But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is.

26   I found something more bitter than death—woman. The love she offers you will catch you like a trap or 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.

27   Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers.

28   I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman.

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

1   Only a wise man knows what things really mean. Wisdom makes him smile and makes his frowns disappear. Obey the King

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

3   The king can do anything he likes, so depart his presence; don't stay in such a dangerous place.

4   The king acts with authority, and no one can challenge what he does.

5   As long as you obey his commands, you are safe, and a wise man knows how and when to do it.

6   There is a right time and a right way to do everything, but we know so little!

7   None of us knows what is going to happen, and there is no one to tell us.

8   No one can keep himself from dying or put off the day of his death. That is a battle we cannot escape; we cannot cheat our way out. The Wicked and the Righteous

9   I saw all this when I thought about the things that are done in this world, a world where some men have power and others have to suffer under them.

10   Yes, I have seen wicked men buried and in their graves, but on the way back from the cemetery people praise them in the very city where they did their evil. ^noteIt is useless.

11   Why do people commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough.

12   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,

13   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.”

14   But this is nonsense. Look at what happens in the world: sometimes righteous men get the punishment of the wicked, and wicked men get the reward of the righteous. I say it is useless.

15   So I am convinced that a man should enjoy himself, because the only pleasure he has in this life is eating and drinking and enjoying

himself. He can at least do this as he labors during the life that God has given him in this world.

16   Whenever I tried to become wise and learn what goes on in the world, I realized that you could stay awake night and day

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

1   I thought long and hard about all this and saw that God controls the actions of wise and righteous men, even their love and their hate. No one knows anything about what lies ahead of him.

2   It makes no difference. ^noteThe same fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the bad, ^note to those who are religious and those who are not, to those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. A good man is no better off than a sinner; a man who takes an oath is no better off than one who does not.

3   One fate comes to all alike, and this is as wrong as anything that happens in this world. As long as people live, their minds are full of evil and madness, and suddenly they die.

4   But anyone who is alive in the world of the living has some hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

5   Yes, the living know they are going to die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward; they are completely forgotten.

6   Their loves, their hates, their passions, all died with them. They will never again take part in anything that happens in this world.

7   Go ahead—eat your food and be happy; drink your wine and be cheerful. It's all right with God.

8   Always look happy and cheerful.

9   Enjoy life with the woman you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble.

10   Work hard at whatever you do, because there will be no action, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom in the world of the dead— and that is where you are going.

11   I realized another thing, that in this world fast runners do not always win the races, and the brave do not always win the battles. Wise men do not always earn a living, intelligent men do not always get rich, and capable men do not always rise to high positions. Bad luck happens to everyone.

12   You never know when your time is coming. Like birds suddenly caught in a trap, like fish caught in a net, we are trapped at some evil moment when we least expect it. Thoughts on Wisdom and Foolishness

13   There is something else I saw, a good example of how wisdom is regarded in this world.

14   There was a little town without many people in it. A powerful king attacked it. He surrounded it and prepared to break

through the walls.

15   A man lived there who was poor, but so clever that he could have saved the town. But no one thought about him. ^note

16   I have always said that wisdom is better than strength, but no one thinks of a poor man as wise or pays any attention to what he says.

17   It is better to listen to the quiet words of a wise man than to the shouts of a ruler at a council of fools.

18   Wisdom does more good than weapons, but one sinner can undo a lot of good.

1   Dead flies can make a whole bottle of perfume stink, and a little stupidity can cancel out the greatest wisdom.

2   It is natural for a wise man to do the right thing and for a fool to do the wrong thing.

3   His stupidity will be evident even to strangers he meets along the way; he lets everyone know that he is a fool.

4   If your ruler becomes angry with you, do not hand in your resignation; serious wrongs may be pardoned if you keep calm. ^note

5   Here is an injustice I have seen in the world—an injustice caused by rulers.

6   Stupid people are given positions of authority while rich men are ignored.

7   I have seen slaves on horseback while noblemen go on foot like slaves.

8   If you dig a pit, you fall in it; if you break through a wall, a snake bites you. ^note

9   If you work in a stone quarry, you get hurt by stones. If you split wood, you get hurt doing it.

10   If your ax is dull and you don't sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is smarter to plan ahead.

11   Knowing how to charm a snake is of no use if you let the snake bite first.

12   What a wise man says brings him honor, but a fool is destroyed by his own words.

13   He starts out with silly talk and ends up with pure madness.

14   A fool talks on and on.

14   No one knows what is going to happen next, and no one can tell us what will happen after we die.

15   Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work.

16   A country is in trouble when its king is a youth and its leaders feast all night long.

17   But a country is fortunate to have a king who makes his own decisions and leaders who eat at the proper time, who control themselves and don't get drunk.

18   When a man is too lazy to repair his roof, it will leak, and the house will fall in.

19   Feasting makes you happy and wine cheers you up, but you can't have either without money.

20   Don't criticize the king, even silently, and don't criticize the rich, even in the privacy of your bedroom. A bird might carry the message and tell them what you said.

What a Wise Man Does

1   Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit. ^note

2   Put your investments in several places—many places even—because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world.

3   No matter which direction a tree falls, it will lie where it fell. When the clouds are full, it rains.

4   If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything.

5   God made everything, and you can no more understand what he does than you understand how new life begins in the womb of a pregnant woman.

6   Do your planting in the morning and in the evening, too. You never know whether it will all grow well or whether one planting will do better than the other.

7   It is good to be able to enjoy the pleasant light of day.

8   Be grateful for every year you live. No matter how long you live, remember that you will be dead much longer. There is nothing at all to look forward to. Advice to Young People

9   Young people, enjoy your youth. Be happy while you are still young. Do what you want to do, and follow your heart's desire. But remember that God is going to judge you for whatever you do.

10   Don't let anything worry you or cause you pain. You aren't going to be young very long.

1   So remember your Creator ^note while you are still young, before those dismal days and years come when you will say, “I don't enjoy life.”

2   That is when the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars will grow dim for you, and the rain clouds will never pass away.

3   Then your arms, that have protected you, will tremble, and your legs, now strong, will grow weak. Your teeth will be too few to chew your food, and your eyes too dim to see clearly.

4   Your ears will be deaf to the noise of the street. You will barely be able to hear the mill as it grinds or music as it plays, but even the song of a bird will wake you from sleep.

5   You will be afraid of high places, and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone.

5   We are going to our final resting place, and then there will be mourning in the streets.

6   The silver chain will snap, and the golden lamp will fall and break; the rope at the well will break, and the water jar will be shattered.

7   Our bodies will return to the dust of the earth, and the breath of life will go back to God, who gave it to us.

8   Useless, useless, said the Philosopher. It is all useless. The Summing Up

9   But because the Philosopher was wise, he kept on teaching the people what he knew. He studied proverbs and honestly tested their truth.

10   The Philosopher tried to find comforting words, but the words he wrote were honest.

11   The sayings of wise men are like the sharp sticks that shepherds use to guide sheep, and collected proverbs are as lasting as firmly driven nails. They have been given by God, the one Shepherd of us all.

12   Son, there is something else to watch out for. There is no end to the writing of books, and too much study will wear you out.

13   After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that man was created for.

14   God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret.

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