Ecclesiastes 4

• 1. Again I observed all the oppression that takes place in our world. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and the victims are helpless.
• 2. So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living.
• 3. And most fortunate of all are those who were never born. For they have never seen all the evil that is done in our world.
• 4. Then I observed that most people are motivated to success by their envy of their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless, like chasing the wind.
• 5. Foolish people refuse to work and almost starve.
• 6. They feel it is better to be lazy and barely survive than to work hard, especially when in the long run everything is so futile.
• 7. I observed yet another example of meaninglessness in our world.
• 8. This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, "Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?" It is all so meaningless and depressing.
• 9. Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor.
• 10. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble.
• 11. And on a cold night, two under the same blanket can gain warmth from each other. But how can one be warm alone?
• 12. A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
• 13. It is better to be a poor but wise youth than to be an old and foolish king who refuses all advice.
• 14. Such a youth could come from prison and succeed. He might even become king, though he was born in poverty.
• 15. Everyone is eager to help such a youth, even to help him take the throne.
• 16. He might become the leader of millions and be very popular. But then the next generation grows up and rejects him! So again, it is all meaningless, like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 5

• 1. As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut! Don't be a fool who doesn't realize that mindless offerings to God are evil.
• 2. And don't make rash promises to God, for he is in heaven, and you are only here on earth. So let your words be few.
• 3. Just as being too busy gives you nightmares, being a fool makes you a blabbermouth.
• 4. So when you make a promise to God, don't delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him.
• 5. It is better to say nothing than to promise something that you don't follow through on.
• 6. In such cases, your mouth is making you sin. And don't defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved.
• 7. Dreaming all the time instead of working is foolishness. And there is ruin in a flood of empty words. Fear God instead.
• 8. If you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and justice being miscarried throughout the land, don't be surprised! For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice only get lost in red tape and bureaucracy.
• 9. Even the king milks the land for his own profit!
• 10. Those who love money will never have enough. How absurd to think that wealth brings true happiness!
• 11. The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what is the advantage of wealth--except perhaps to watch it run through your fingers!
• 12. People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich are always worrying and seldom get a good night's sleep.
• 13. There is another serious problem I have seen in the world. Riches are sometimes hoarded to the harm of the saver,
• 14. or they are put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one's children.
• 15. People who live only for wealth come to the end of their lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day they were born.
• 16. And this, too, is a very serious problem. As people come into this world, so they depart. All their hard work is for nothing. They have been working for the wind, and everything will be swept away.
• 17. Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud--frustrated, discouraged, and angry.
• 18. Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat well, drink a good glass of wine, and enjoy their work--whatever they do under the sun--for however long God lets them live.
• 19. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life--that is indeed a gift from God.
• 20. People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy.

Ecclesiastes 6

• 1. There is another serious tragedy I have seen in our world.
• 2. God gives great wealth and honor to some people and gives them everything they could ever want, but then he doesn't give them the health to enjoy it. They die, and others get it all! This is meaningless--a sickening tragedy.
• 3. A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and in the end does not even get a decent burial, I say he would have been better off born dead.
• 4. I realize that his birth would have been meaningless and ended in darkness. He wouldn't even have had a name,
• 5. and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than he has in growing up to be an unhappy man.
• 6. He might live a thousand years twice over but not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else--well, what's the use?
• 7. All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.
• 8. Considering this, do wise people really have any advantage over fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?
• 9. Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind.
• 10. Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there's no use arguing with God about your destiny.
• 11. The more words you speak, the less they mean. So why overdo it?
• 12. In the few days of our empty lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? And who can tell what will happen in the future after we are gone?

New Living Translation: 231 of 324 days.