A flat basket of fresh round loaves on a stone doorstep in late-afternoon light, a narrow town lane running away behind it, and far off a few small mourners carrying a covered bier.

Live while you live

Ecclesiastes 9

The same end is coming for everyone. So what will you do with today?

18 verses≈ 4 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1Everything is futileThe Teacher states his case
2–6The searchPleasure, work, time, power, wealth
7–8What wisdom can and can't doNo one can find out what is coming
9–11Live while you liveDeath comes to all, so take the giftChapter 9
12Remember your CreatorFear God and keep His commandments

Death Comes to Good and Bad

The Teacher

So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

A lean tan street dog stands alert in a strip of shade in a stony lane at midday, tongue out, looking straight at us.

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

The Teacher

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Reflect

Let it sink in

If you let it sink in that today is one of a limited number, what would you stop putting off?

Enjoy Your Portion in This Life

The Teacher

The Teacher

Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:

Let your garments always be white,

and never spare the oil for your head.

Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.

Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 9:10

Wisdom Is Better than Strength

The Teacher

From a far hillside, a very small walled town on a low rise with a long earthen siege ramp against its wall and a great ring of army tents around it.

I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me: There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.

Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom.

0:19

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

The Teacher

A busy morning in a town gateway: people stream past, and alone on the stone bench an old thin man in a patched tunic sits with his hands on his knees.

Yet no one remembered that poor man. And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

Question

Quick question

A small city, a mighty king and one poor man.

What happened to the poor wise man after he saved the city?

The Teacher

Wisdom is better than weapons of war,

but one sinner destroys much good.

You’ve experienced

Ecclesiastes 9

0 of 12 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 9:10

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