Ecclesiastes 4

¹⁶Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

⁸If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

⁷For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

¹⁶At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.

¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.

²³I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to be traversed.”

⁹Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!

¹¹Why did I not perish at birth; why did I not die as I came from the womb?

¹²Why were there knees to receive me, and breasts that I should be nursed?

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

⁴There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

²⁹Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’

¹⁹How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers!

³A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

⁴For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.

¹⁸Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!

¹⁹If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

²If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people.

³“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the Lord.

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹²Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.

¹⁴I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

²¹When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great evil.

²⁶To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

²⁹he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy.

³⁰Every time the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers, so that his name was highly esteemed.

¹⁴and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the Lord was with him.

¹⁵When Saul saw that David was very successful, he was afraid of him.

²⁰They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.

¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

¹¹and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and need like a bandit.

⁴The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.

⁴The slacker does not plow in season; at harvest time he looks, but nothing is there.

¹⁴Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?

²⁷A lazy man does not roast his game, but a diligent man prizes his possession.

⁸Better a little with righteousness than great gain with injustice.

¹⁶Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure with turmoil.

¹⁷Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.

¹⁶Better is the little of the righteous than the abundance of many who are wicked.

¹Better a dry morsel in quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.

¹Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

³³So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror.

⁶But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the Lord of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”

¹⁶For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.

²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

⁸All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.

²⁸Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

¹³And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a miserable task God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!

¹⁷As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

¹⁸The Lord God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”

¹⁸But in fact, God has arranged the members of the body, every one of them, according to His design.

¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be?

¹⁴I cannot carry all these people by myself; it is too burdensome for me.

⁷Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits.

³⁶Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.

¹¹Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.

¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.

¹Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.

³Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!

⁴Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

³Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands.

⁴Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.

¹⁶And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God,

¹Now King David was old and well along in years, and though they covered him with blankets, he could not keep warm.

²So his servants said to him, “Let us search for a young virgin for our lord the king, to attend to him and care for him and lie by his side to keep him warm.”

³and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

¹⁷If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king.

¹Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a fool whose lips are perverse.

¹⁶While he was still speaking, the king asked, “Have we made you the counselor to the king? Stop! Why be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but he said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.”

⁹For the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in this matter. From now on, therefore, you will be at war.”

¹⁰Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.

¹⁵Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.

¹⁶A leader who lacks judgment is also a great oppressor, but he who hates dishonest profit will prolong his days.

⁸The king of Israel answered, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” “The king should not say that!” Jehoshaphat replied.

⁶Better a poor man who walks with integrity than a rich man whose ways are perverse.

⁷He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump

⁸to seat them with nobles, with the princes of His people.

¹⁴So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, who was quickly brought out of the dungeon. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he went in before Pharaoh.

¹¹He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.

²⁰The Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

³³Now, therefore, Pharaoh should look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt.

³⁴Let Pharaoh take action and appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

³¹While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.

⁶Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for justice. In this way he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

¹⁴I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

⁴⁰All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth was split by the sound.

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹²While Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, to come from his hometown of Giloh. So the conspiracy gained strength, and Absalom’s following kept increasing.

¹³Then a messenger came to David and reported, “The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.”

⁵At that time Adonijah, David’s son by Haggith, began to exalt himself, saying, “I will be king!” And he acquired chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run ahead of him.

⁶(His father had never once reprimanded him by saying, “Why do you act this way?” Adonijah was also very handsome, born next after Absalom.)

⁷There the people of Israel were defeated by David’s servants, and the slaughter was great that day—twenty thousand men.

⁸The battle spread over the whole countryside, and that day the forest devoured more people than the sword.