Episode 178: The dead know nothing

Ecclesiastes 7-12

The song of fools

7 ¹ A good reputation is more valuable than precious ointment.

³ Sorrow is better than laughter, for the heart is improved by sadness.

⁴ The wise mourn, while fools rejoice.

⁵ It's better to be rebuked by wise people than to be praised by fools.

⁸ It's better to be patient than proud.

⁹ Don't be quick to anger.

¹⁰ Don't say, "I miss the good old days."

¹⁵ Only the good die young.

²¹ Don't believe everything you hear.

²⁵ Try to discover things with reason. Seek wisdom. Avoid folly, foolishness, and madness.

Not one woman

²⁶ Some women are worse than death. They trap and destroy men in their nets.

²⁸ I have found a few good men (maybe one in a thousand or so), but not a single good woman.

Obey the king

8 ¹ Wisdom makes a person's face shine.

² Obey the king as you would God.

³ A king does whatever he wants.

⁴ His word is all-powerful.

No one can say to him, "What are you doing?"

Eat, drink, and be merry

¹⁵ Eat, drink, and be merry.

¹⁷ There are some things that we will never know.

Time and chance happen to us all

9 ² The same thing happens to us all: we die.

⁴ As long as we live, there is hope. A living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵ The living know they will die, but the dead know nothing.

They have no reward, and their memory is forgotten.

⁶ All their love, hatred, and envy die with them. Nothing survives their death.

⁷ So eat your bread and drink your wine with a happy heart. God accepts your works.

⁸ Always wear white clothing. And put some oil on your head.

⁹ Live joyfully with the wife that you love.

¹⁰ And whatever you do in this life, do it with all your might.

Because there is no work, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave.

¹¹ The race isn't to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to those with understanding, nor good fortune to the skilled; time and chance happen to us all.

¹² For none of us knows when we will die.

Like fish in a net or birds in a snare, we are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon us.

¹⁶ Wisdom is better than strength or weapons of war.

¹⁸ But one bad person can destroy much that is good.

Dead flies

10 ¹ Dead flies make an ointment stinky,

as small mistakes tarnish a wise and honored reputation.

² A wise person's heart is on the right side of the body, but a fool's heart is on the left.

³ A fool calls everyone else a fool.

¹² The words of the wise are gracious, but fools are swallowed by their own lips.

¹³ They begin by speaking foolishness, and end with mischievous madness.

¹⁴ A fool is full of words.

¹⁹ A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes us merry, but money solves every problem.

²⁰ Don't curse the king or rich people.

(Don't even think anything bad about a king, because a little bird might tell him about your bad thoughts.)

Bread on the waters

11 ¹ Throw your bread on the waters. It'll come back after many days.

² Give some to seven or eight. Who knows what evil there will be on earth?

³ In the place where the tree falls, there it shall be.

⁵ You don't know how the fetus develops in the womb, so you don't know the works of God.

⁸ If you live a long life, rejoice in that.

But remember your days of darkness, for there will be many.

⁹ Enjoy your youth, follow your heart, and look where you're going.

Of the making of books there is no end

12 ¹² There is no end to the making of books.

And much studying is a weariness of the flesh.