Ecclesiastics (<i>GOD'S WORD</i>)

Ecclesiastics (GOD'S WORD)

Ecclesiastics 2:1-11 (GOD'S WORD)

    ¹I thought to myself, “Now I want to experiment with pleasure and enjoy myself.” But even this was pointless.
   ²I thought, “Laughter doesn’t make any sense. What does pleasure accomplish?”
    ³I explored ways to make myself feel better by drinking wine. I also explored ways to do bsomen foolish things. During all that time, wisdom continued to control my mind. I was able to determine whether this was good for mortals to do during their brief lives under heaven.
    ⁴I accomplished some great things: I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself.
   ⁵ I made gardens and parks for myself. I planted every kind of fruit tree in them.
   ⁶ I made pools to water the forest of growing trees.
    ⁷ I bought male and female slaves. In addition, slaves were born in my household. I owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
   ⁸ I also gathered silver and gold for myself. I gathered the treasures of kings and provinces. I provided myself with male and female singers and the pleasures men have with one concubinea after another.
    ⁹So I grew richer than anyone in Jerusalem before me. Yet, my wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰If something appealed to me, I did it. I allowed myself to have any pleasure I wanted, since I found pleasure in my work. This was my reward for all my hard work.
    ¹¹But when I turned to look at all that I had accomplished and all the hard work I had put into it, I saw that it was all pointless. bIt was liken trying to catch the wind. I gained nothing bfrom any of my accomplishmentsn under the sun.

Ecclesiastics 3:16-22 (GOD'S WORD)

   ¹⁶I saw something else under the sun: There is wickedness where justice should be found. There is wickedness where righteousness should be found.
    ¹⁷I thought to myself, “God will judge righteous people as well as wicked people, because there is a specific time for every activity and every work that is done.”¹⁸I thought to myself, “God is going to test humans in order to show them that they are [like] animals.”¹⁹Humans and animals have the same destiny. One dies just like the other. All of them have the same breath [of life] .
Humans have no advantage over animals. All [of life] is pointless. ²⁰All [life] goes to the same place. All [life] comes from the ground, and all of it goes back to the ground. ²¹Who knows whether a human spirit goes upward or whether an animal spirit goes downward to the earth?
   ²²I saw that there’s nothing better for people to do than to enjoy their work because that is their lot [in life] . Who will allow them to see what will happen after them?

Ecclesiastics 8:14-15 (GOD'S WORD)

¹⁴There is something being done on earth that is pointless. Righteous people suffer for what the wicked do, and wicked people get what the righteous deserve. I say that even this is pointless.
¹⁵So I recommend the enjoyment of life. People have nothing better to do under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. This joy will stay with them while they work hard during their brief lives which God has given them under the sun.

Ecclesiastics 12:13-14 (GOD'S WORD)

¹³After having heard it all, this is the conclusion: Fear God, and keep his commands, because this applies to everyone. ¹⁴God will certainly judge everything that is done.
This includes every secret thing, whether it is good or bad.