About this Bible Study........The King James Version of the Bible is written in a beautiful form of the English language. It can be hard for modern English readers to understand. In this study, you will find notes and summaries in brown just above the the verses from the Bible. We recommend that you read the notes and summaries first, and then read the verses in their KJV form.
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The Book of Ecclesiastes
Solomon wrote this book at the end of his life. He is looking back and has
some regrets. He sees many activities in life as being worthless.
He ends by emphasizing that even though life is hard, God is always with us and
will help us.
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Don't be in a hurry when you go to God's house. Be
ready to listen. Don't sacrifice like fools do. They don't think they have
sinned. Do not talk too fast. Be careful how you pray. God is in heaven,
and you are here on earth. So, don't talk a lot.
[1] Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to
hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do
evil.
[2] Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any
thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy
words be few.
A dream comes from thinking about it. A fool
talks too much.
[3] For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is
known by multitude of words.
If you make a promise to God, keep your promise and
don't take long. God is not happy with fools. Pay what you have promised.
[4] When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no
pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
[5] Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and
not pay.
Do not let your mouth get you into trouble. Don't tell the angel that you
were wrong. God will be angry with your voice and destroy the work of your hands.
[6] Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the
angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and
destroy the work of thine hands?
Dreams and talking are a waste of time. You
should respect God.
[7] For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers
vanities: but fear thou God.
If you see poor people being mistreated and getting no justice, don't be surprised.
Every leader has someone over him.
[8] If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment
and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than
the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.
The profit from the earth is for everyone, including
the king.
[9] Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by
the field.
If you have a lot of money, you will not be
satisfied. This is pointless.
[10] He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that
loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
The more you get, the more people come around to get
what you have. What good is it to have more things?
[11] When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is
there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
Hard work makes a man eat. But a rich man eats too much
and can't sleep.
[12] The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but
the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
I have seen this happen -- a man keeps his wealth.
But then his riches are gone. He had a son, but had nothing to give him.
[13] There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept
for the owners thereof to their hurt.
[14] But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there
is nothing in his hand.
When he was born, he had nothing. When he dies, he
cannot take anything with him. What good did it do to work hard?
[15] As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he
came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
[16] And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he
go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
All of his days of life were sad, and he was sick. I
have seen that it is good to eat and drink and enjoy the days God gives life on
earth.
[17] All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath
with his sickness.
[18] Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to
drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all
the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.
If God gives someone riches and wealth, it is a gift.
He should be happy in his work.
[19] Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him
power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour;
this is the gift of God.
He won't remember the bad times because God will keep
him busy and joyful.
[20] For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth
him in the joy of his heart.
There is something I have seen many times. It
is not good. A man may be rich and have honor. He may have everything he
wants. But, God does not allow him to use it. A stranger gets it all. This is
bad and evil.
[1] There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among
men:
[2] A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth
nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to
eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil
disease.
A man might have 100 children.
He may live a long time, but he is not nice. I say that the babies who never lived are better
off than that man.
[3] If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of
his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have
no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
People come into life with nothing and leave in darkness. Everyone's
names will be covered in darkness. He has not seen the light. He hasn't known
anything.
[4] For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall
be covered with darkness.
[5] Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest
than the other.
Even if he lives a thousand years, he still hasn't
seen any good. Doesn't everyone go to one place?
[6] Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good:
do not all go to one place?
All the work is for his mouth, but he is still hungry.
[7] All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
Who really has more? Does the wise man know more than
the foolish man?
[8] For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth
to walk before the living?
It is better to appreciate what you can see instead of
wishing for something else. It is a waste of time.
[9] Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of
spirit.
Everything was named a long time ago. Man cannot fight
with God. God is stronger than man.
[10] That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is
man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.
Many things increase vanity (they are worthless). Is Man better than that?
[11] Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the
better?
Who knows what is good for man in this life. His life
will be dark like a shadow. Who can tell a man what comes next?
[12] For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of
his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall
be after him under the sun?
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