0 Ecclesiastes Introduction

Every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour. 3:13

Trivia: According to Ecclesiastes, what color should your clothes always be?

Ecclesiastes for Skeptics

Ecclesiastes is by far the best book in the Bible. Of course most of the good stuff contradicts what the Bible says elsewhere.

  • "There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour." 2:24
  • "To everything there is a season." 3:1
  • "There is no good ... but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life." 3:12
  • "Every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour." 3:13
  • "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast." 3:19
  • "All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." 3:20
  • "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" 3:21
  • "There is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works." 3:22
  • "Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king." 4:13
  • "A fool's voice is known by multitude of words." 5:3
  • "It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools." 7:5
  • "I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things." 7:25
  • "A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry." 8:15
  • "For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion." 9:4
  • "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." 9:5
  • "Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart." 9:7
  • "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." 9:10
  • "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all." 9:11
  • "Walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes." 11:9
  • "Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh." 12:12

Copyright © 1999-2024
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

Send comments to Steve Wells
at swwells(at)gmail.com