“Ecclesiastes Week 9: Joy-Filled Living”
August 21, 2022
Dorsey Translation of Ecclesiastes 8:9-9:10:
Remember that God will right all wrongs
9 I observed all these things and thought about everything that happens in this world. Sometimes people gain power over others and bring them great harm. 10 I have seen the wicked buried and eulogized in the very city where they did their evil–but such praise has no ultimate significance. 11 People dare to do all kinds of evil because the punishment for such wrongdoing does not occur instantly. 12 Nevertheless, although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that in the end it will go better for those who respect and obey God, who live obediently before him. 13 And the wicked person who does not live obediently before God, in the end it will not go well for him, and his days will not lengthen like a shadow. 14 The travesties of justice in this world are only temporary and ultimately inconsequential–for example, when righteous people get what the wicked deserve, and when wicked people get what the righteous deserve. But I say that such travesties are only temporary and ultimately inconsequential. 15 So I recommend the enjoyment of life. The best thing a person can do in this life is to eat and drink and be joyful. Let joy accompany him in his work all the days of life that God has given him to live in this world.
Death is certain; so enjoy your life while you are still alive
16 When I sought to become wise and to understand what goes on in this world, I realized that even if a person were to stay awake day and night, 17 he would never be able to know God’s plan. No human being can comprehend it. Despite all his best efforts, a person cannot discover it. A wise man may claim to know it, but he doesn’t. 9:1 I pondered and considered all of this. I concluded that even in the case of the righteous and the wise, what happens to them is in God’s hands. No one, including the wise, can know whether easy times or hard times await him. 2 All that can be known for certain is that the same fate awaits everyone–the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. The same destiny awaits good people and sinners, those who take oaths and those who refuse to take them. 3 Whatever happens to people in this life, the same fate awaits them all. Whether a person’s heart is full of evil or praise while he lives, in the end he will join the dead. 4 Anyone who is still among the living can be sure of this one thing. But even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They can derive no more benefit from this life; even the memory of them fades away. 6 Their love, their hate, and their zeal have already come to an end. They will never again take part in anything that happens in this life. 7 Therefore go, eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for this is what God wants you to do now. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with fragrant oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this fleeting life that God has given you in this world– all your fleeting days. For this is what God wants you to do as you live and work in this life. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, because in the grave, where you are going, there will be no more working or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
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