Bible Reading Plan – Day 144

₁Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices as foolish people do, people who don't know right from wrong. ₂Think 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. ₃The 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. ₄So 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. ₅Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it. ₆Don'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? ₇No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still stand in awe of God.

₈Don'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.

₉Even a king depends on the harvest.

₁₀If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless. ₁₁The richer you are, the more mouths you must feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich. ₁₂Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.

₁₃Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it, ₁₄and then lose it all in some unlucky deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children. ₁₅We leave this world just as we entered it — with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us. ₁₆It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labour, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get? ₁₇We have to live our lives in darkness and grief, worried, angry, and sick.

₁₈This is what I have found out: the best thing anyone can do is to eat and drink and enjoy what he has worked for during the short life that God has given him; this is man's fate. ₁₉If 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. ₂₀Since God has allowed him to be happy, he will not worry too much about how short life is.

₁I have noticed that in this world a serious injustice is done. ₂God will give someone wealth, honour, 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's all wrong. ₃A person 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. ₄It does that baby no good to be born; it disappears into darkness, where it is forgotten. ₅It never sees the light of day or knows what life is like, but at least it has found rest — ₆more so than the man who never enjoys life, though he may live 2,000 years. After all, both of them are going to the same place.

₇People do all their work just to get something to eat, but they never have enough. ₈How are the wise better off than fools? What good does it do the poor to know how to face life? ₉It 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.

₁₀Everything that happens was already determined long ago, and we all know that you cannot argue with someone who is stronger than you are. ₁₁The longer you argue, the more useless it is, and you are no better off. ₁₂How can anyone know what is best for us in this short, useless life of ours — a life that passes like a shadow? How can we know what will happen in the world after we die?

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

₂It 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.

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

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

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

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

₇You may be wise, but if you cheat someone, you are acting like a fool. If you take a bribe, you ruin your character.

₈The end of anything is better than its beginning.

Patience is better than pride.

₉Keep your temper under control; it is foolish to harbour a grudge.

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

₁₁Everyone who lives ought to be wise; it is as good as receiving an inheritance ₁₂and will give you as much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe — this is the advantage of knowledge.

₁₃Think about what God has done. How can anyone straighten out what God has made crooked? ₁₄When 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.

₁₅My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. Some good people may die while others live on, even though they are evil. ₁₆So don't be too good or too wise — why kill yourself? ₁₇But don't be too wicked or too foolish, either — why die before you have to? ₁₈Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be successful anyway.

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

₂₀There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.

₂₁Don't pay attention to everything people say — you may hear your servant insulting you, ₂₂and you know yourself that you have insulted other people many times.

₂₃I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me. ₂₄How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand. ₂₅But 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.

₂₆I 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 round you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner. ₂₇Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers. ₂₈I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman. ₂₉This is all that I have learnt: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

₁Only the wise know what things really mean. Wisdom makes them smile and makes their frowns disappear.

₂Do what the king says, and don't make any rash promises to God. ₃The king can do anything he likes, so depart from his presence; don't stay in such a dangerous place. ₄The king acts with authority, and no one can challenge what he does. ₅As long as you obey his commands, you are safe, and a wise person knows how and when to do it. ₆There is a right time and a right way to do everything, but we know so little! ₇None of us knows what is going to happen, and there is no one to tell us. ₈No one can keep from dying or put off the day of death. That is a battle we cannot escape; we cannot cheat our way out.

₉I saw all this when I thought about the things that are done in this world, a world where some people have power and others have to suffer under them. ₁₀Yes, I have seen the wicked 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. It is useless.

₁₁Why do people commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough. ₁₂A 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, ₁₃but 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.” ₁₄But this is nonsense. Look at what happens in the world: sometimes the righteous get the punishment of the wicked, and the wicked get the reward of the righteous. I say it is useless.

₁₅So 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 labour during the life that God has given us in this world.

₁₆Whenever I tried to become wise and learn what goes on in the world, I realized that you could stay awake night and day ₁₇and 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.