The Book of ECCLESIASTES - Chapter Ten

1

As dead flies give perfume a bad smell,

    so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honour.

2 

The heart of the wise inclines to the right,

    but the heart of the fool to the left.

3 

Even as fools walk along the road,

    they lack sense

    and show everyone how stupid they are.

4 

If a ruler’s anger rises against you,

    do not leave your post;

    calmness can lay great offences to rest.

5 

There is an evil I have seen under the sun,

    the sort of error that arises from a ruler:

6 

fools are put in many high positions,

    while the rich occupy the low ones.

7 

I have seen slaves on horseback,

    while princes go on foot like slaves.

8 

Whoever digs a pit may fall into it;

    whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

9 

Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them;

    whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

10 

If the axe is dull

    and its edge unsharpened,

more strength is needed,

    but skill will bring success.

11 

If a snake bites before it is charmed,

    the charmer receives no fee.

12 

Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious,

    but fools are consumed by their own lips.

13 

At the beginning their words are folly;

    at the end they are wicked madness –

14 

    and fools multiply words.

No one knows what is coming –

    who can tell someone else what will happen after them?

15 

The toil of fools wearies them;

    they do not know the way to town.

16 

Woe to the land whose king was a servant

    and whose princes feast in the morning.

17 

Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth

    and whose princes eat at a proper time –

    for strength and not for drunkenness.

18 

Through laziness, the rafters sag;

    because of idle hands, the house leaks.

19 

A feast is made for laughter,

    wine makes life merry,

    and money is the answer for everything.

20 

Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,

    or curse the rich in your bedroom,

because a bird in the sky may carry your words,

    and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

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Word by Word Meditations 

by Fred Ursell

Ecclesiastes 10 : “smell” (v.1)

The expression ‘a fly in the ointment’ come from the 1611 Bible translation of this passage; the phrase in our NIV version is “dead flies give perfume a bad smell” (v.1). It’s a simile, and means something naturally nice (“perfume”) can be spoiled by something small.  Solomon’s comparison was “a little folly outweighs wisdom and honour” (v.1). Think of a small stain on your clean clothing. The whiter the shirt or blouse, the more noticeable the stain is. What’s more, faults get worse (vv.12-13).  Remedy?  Let Christ eject ‘flies’, perfuming your life!

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The Book of ECCLESIASTES

- Chapter 10 -

- Read by David Suchet -

-=-

The Book of ECCLESIASTES 

- Overview - “The Bible Project” 

https://youtu.be/lrsQ1tc-2wk

The Book of ECCLESIASTES 

- Wisdom - “The Bible Project”

https://youtu.be/VeUiuSK81-0

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of ECCLESIASTES

by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/mExfn1kAxLE

-=-=-=-=-

(1)Hevel (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/a0wWB8YEDiA

(2)Gift (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/zAbpygDZcwc

(3)The Limits of Labor (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project) 

https://youtu.be/-X1MxFLqnjg

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The Book of ECCLESIASTES - Chapter Nine

A common destiny for all

1 

So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous 

and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, 

but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. 

2

 All share a common destiny – the righteous and the wicked, 

the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, 

those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,

    so with the sinful;

as it is with those who take oaths,

    so with those who are afraid to take them.

3

 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: 

The same destiny overtakes all. 

The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil 

and there is madness in their hearts while they live, 

and afterwards they join the dead. 

4 

Anyone who is among the living has hope 

– even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

5 

For the living know that they will die,

    but the dead know nothing;

they have no further reward,

    and even their name is forgotten.

6 

Their love, their hate

    and their jealousy have long since vanished;

never again will they have a part

    in anything that happens under the sun.

7 

Go, eat your food with gladness, 

and drink your wine with a joyful heart, 

for God has already approved what you do. 

8 

Always be clothed in white, 

and always anoint your head with oil. 

9 

Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, 

all the days of this meaningless life 

that God has given you under the sun 

– all your meaningless days. 

For this is your lot in life 

and in your toilsome labour under the sun. 

10 

Whatever your hand finds to do, 

do it with all your might, 

for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, 

there is neither working nor planning 

nor knowledge nor wisdom.

11 

I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift

    or the battle to the strong,

nor does food come to the wise

    or wealth to the brilliant

    or favour to the learned;

but time and chance happen to them all.

12 

Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net,

    or birds are taken in a snare,

so people are trapped by evil times

    that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Wisdom better than folly

13 

I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom 

that greatly impressed me: 

14

 there was once a small city with only a few people in it. 

And a powerful king came against it, 

surrounded it and built huge siege works against it. 

15 

Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, 

and he saved the city by his wisdom. 

But nobody remembered that poor man. 

16 

So I said, ‘Wisdom is better than strength.’

 But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, 

and his words are no longer heeded.

17 

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded

    than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

18 

Wisdom is better than weapons of war,

    but one sinner destroys much good.

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Word by Word Meditation 

by Fred Ursell

Ecclesiastes 9 : “common” (v.2)

What does everyone have in common? It’s our “common destiny” (v.2), and it’s “the same” (v.3) for “the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean” – without exception all “join the dead” (v.3), and (as far as Solomon could see) “the dead know nothing” (v.5). With no hope of a future life “a live dog is better off than a dead lion” (v.4). The king floundered in his limited perspective of just the here and now, not the hereafter. Death is “common” to all; the antidote of eternal life is commended to all! Take it today!

-=-=-=-=-

The Book of ECCLESIASTES

- Chapter 9 -

- Read by David Suchet -

-=-

The Book of ECCLESIASTES 

- Overview - “The Bible Project” 

https://youtu.be/lrsQ1tc-2wk

The Book of ECCLESIASTES 

- Wisdom - “The Bible Project”

https://youtu.be/VeUiuSK81-0

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of ECCLESIASTES

by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/mExfn1kAxLE

-=-=-=-=-

(1)Hevel (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/a0wWB8YEDiA

(2)Gift (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/zAbpygDZcwc

(3)The Limits of Labor (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project) 

https://youtu.be/-X1MxFLqnjg

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The Book of ECCLESIASTES - Chapter Eight

1 

Who is like the wise?

    Who knows the explanation of things?

A person’s wisdom brightens their face

    and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the king

2 

Obey the king’s command, I say, 

because you took an oath before God. 

3 

Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. 

Do not stand up for a bad cause, 

for he will do whatever he pleases. 

4 

Since a king’s word is supreme, 

who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

5 

Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,

    and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

6 

For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,

    though a person may be weighed down by misery.

7 

Since no one knows the future,

    who can tell someone else what is to come?

8 

As no one has power over the wind to contain it,

    so no one has power over the time of their death.

As no one is discharged in time of war,

    so wickedness will not release those who practise it.

9 

All this I saw, 

as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. 

There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. 

10 

Then too, I saw the wicked buried – 

those who used to come and go from the holy place 

and receive praise in the city where they did this. 

This too is meaningless.

11 

When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, 

people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 

12 

Although a wicked person who commits 

a hundred crimes may live a long time,

 I know that it will go better with those who fear God, 

who are reverent before him. 

13 

Yet because the wicked do not fear God, 

it will not go well with them, 

and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

14 

There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth:

 the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, 

and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. 

This too, I say, is meaningless. 

15 

So I commend the enjoyment of life, 

because there is nothing better for a person under the sun 

than to eat and drink and be glad. 

Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life 

God has given them under the sun.

16 

When I applied my mind to know wisdom 

and to observe the labour that is done on earth 

– people getting no sleep day or night – 

17 

then I saw all that God has done. 

No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. 

Despite all their efforts to search it out, 

no one can discover its meaning. 

Even if the wise claim they know, 

they cannot really comprehend it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Book of ECCLESIASTES

- Chapter 8 -

- Read by David Suchet -

-=-

The Book of ECCLESIASTES 

- Overview - “The Bible Project” 

https://youtu.be/lrsQ1tc-2wk

The Book of ECCLESIASTES 

- Wisdom - “The Bible Project”

https://youtu.be/VeUiuSK81-0

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of ECCLESIASTES

by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/mExfn1kAxLE

-=-=-=-=-

(1)Hevel (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/a0wWB8YEDiA

(2)Gift (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/zAbpygDZcwc

(3)The Limits of Labor (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project) 

https://youtu.be/-X1MxFLqnjg

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