more so than the man who never enjoys life, though he may live two thousand years. After all, both of them are going to the same place.

A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. Oh yes, I know what they say: "If you obey God, everything will be all right,

So I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.

All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.

Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate.

Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.

So I am convinced that we should enjoy ourselves, because the only pleasure we have in this life is eating and drinking and enjoying ourselves. We can at least do this as we labor during the life that God has given us in this world.

When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next.

So remember your Creator while you are still young, before those dismal days and years come when you will say, "I don't enjoy life."

Then your arms, that have protected you, will tremble, and your legs, now strong, will grow weak. Your teeth will be too few to chew your food, and your eyes too dim to see clearly.

You will be afraid of high places, and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone. We are going to our final resting place, and then there will be mourning in the streets.

They fail to see why they were defeated; they cannot understand what happened.

a land of darkness, shadows, and confusion, where the light itself is darkness.

But we die, and that is the end of us; we die, and where are we then?

and vultures are waiting to eat their corpses. They know their future is dark;

They will be driven out of the land of the living, driven from light into darkness.

Honor the LORD, your God, before he brings darkness, and you stumble on the mountains; before he turns into deep darkness the light you hoped for.

It will be a dark and gloomy day, a black and cloudy day. The great army of locusts advances like darkness spreading over the mountains. There has never been anything like it, and there never will be again.

Then the king told the servants, 'Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.' "

Jesus answered, "The light will be among you a little longer. Continue on your way while you have the light, so that the darkness will not come upon you; for the one who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.

They said to you, "When the last days come, people will appear who will make fun of you, people who follow their own godless desires."

I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too.

Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.

I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them;

I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem.

Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me.

Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind---of no use at all.

You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right!

As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless.

Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too---and a miserable way to live.

There may be no limit to the number of people a king rules; when he is gone, no one will be grateful for what he has done. It is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

We leave this world just as we entered it---with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us.

It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get?

The longer you argue, the more useless it is, and you are no better off.