Episode 177: The best book in the Bible

Ecclesiastes 1-6

All is vanity

1 ¹ The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

² Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

³ In the end, nothing is achieved by all that we do in our lives.

⁷ The rivers flow to the sea, yet the sea isn't full.

The water returns to the place where the rivers began and then return again.

⁹ Things that have happened in the past will happen again.

There's nothing new on earth.

¹¹ No one remembers what happened long ago,

and no one will remember what happens now or in the future.

¹⁵ The imperfect can't be corrected, and what is missing can't be counted.

¹⁶ I am the wisest person who has ever existed.

¹⁷ I have sought wisdom and have come to know madness and folly.

¹⁸ With wisdom comes grief, and increasing knowledge increases sorrow.

There is nothing better

2 ¹ I was wise, rich, and successful.

¹¹ But everything I had achieved was for nothing.

¹³ Then I discovered that wisdom was greater than folly.

¹⁴ Yet the same fate happens to the foolish and the wise.

¹⁶ Both die and will soon be forgotten.

¹⁸ My work will remain unfinished when I die. Someone else will have to finish it for me.

¹⁹ And who knows whether it will be a wise person or a fool?

²⁴ So the best we can do is eat, drink, and enjoy the good in our labor.

Turn, turn, turn

3 ^1-8 To everything there is a season; (turn, turn, turn)

and a time to every purpose under heaven.

A time to be born, a time to die.

A time to plant, and a time to reap.

A time to kill, a time to heal.

A time to laugh, a time to weep.

A time to build up, a time to break down.

A time to dance, a time to mourn,

A time to cast away stones,

A time to gather stones together.

A time of love, a time of hate.

A time of war, a time of peace.

A time you may embrace

A time to refrain from embracing

A time to gain, a time to lose

A time to rend, a time to sow

A time for love, a time for hate

A time for peace, (I swear it's not too late.)

Dust in the wind

¹¹ God made everything beautiful.

No one can find out anything about God's creation.

¹² Rejoice and do good in this life.

¹³ Eat, drink, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

¹⁴ God makes us fear him.

¹⁸ Someday he’ll show us that we are beasts.

¹⁹ Because what happens to beasts happens to us.

Our deaths are just like theirs. We aren’t above them.

²⁰ We and the beasts die and go to the same place.

All we are is dust in the wind.

²¹ Who knows that at death the spirit of humans go up,

and the spirits of beasts go down?

²² So the best we can do is to rejoice in our works.

The fool eats his own flesh

4 ¹ Many are oppressed without comfort.

² So I considered the dead more fortunate than the living.

⁵ The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

One is the loneliest number

⁹ Two are better than one, since they can get more done than either could alone,

¹⁰ help each other if one gets into trouble,

¹¹ keep each other warm when it gets cold,

¹² and protect each other if either is attacked.

¹³ A poor but wise child is better than and old and foolish king.

Let your words be few

5 ² Don't use many words when you pray.

Let your words be few.

³ A fool is known by a multitude of words.

⁴ If you promise to pay someone something, pay it.

⁵ Don't make a promise that you can't keep.

⁶ Don't say to the angel, "I made a mistake."

Or God might get angry and destroy your work.

⁷ Fear God.

You can't take it with you

¹⁰ If you love silver and riches, you'll never be satisfied.

¹² Working people sleep better than rich people.

¹⁵ You can't take it with you.

¹⁸ So eat, drink, and enjoy your good work.

Who knows?

6 ⁶ Don't we all go to the same place when we die?

¹² Who knows what is good in this life?

Or what will happen on earth after we die?