The Daily Audio Bible
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7 A good reputation is more valuable than the most expensive perfume.
The day one dies is better than the day he is born! 2 It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and it is a good thing to think about it while there is still time. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. 4 Yes, a wise man thinks much of death, while the fool thinks only of having a good time now.
5 It is better to be criticized by a wise man than to be praised by a fool! 6 For a fool’s compliment is as quickly gone as paper in fire, and it is silly to be impressed by it.
7 The wise man is turned into a fool by a bribe; it destroys his understanding.
8 Finishing is better than starting! Patience is better than pride! 9 Don’t be quick-tempered—that is being a fool.
10 Don’t long for “the good old days,” for you don’t know whether they were any better than these!
11 To be wise is as good as being rich; in fact, it is better. 12 You can get anything by either wisdom or money, but being wise has many advantages.
13 See the way God does things and fall into line. Don’t fight the facts of nature.[a] Who can straighten what he has made crooked? 14 Enjoy prosperity whenever you can, and when hard times strike, realize that God gives one as well as the other—so that everyone will realize that nothing is certain in this life.
15-17 In this silly life I have seen everything, including the fact that some of the good die young and some of the wicked live on and on. So don’t be too good or too wise! Why destroy yourself? On the other hand, don’t be too wicked either—don’t be a fool! Why should you die before your time?
18 Tackle every task that comes along, and if you fear God, you can expect his blessing.
19 A wise man is stronger than the mayors of ten big cities! 20 And there is not a single man in all the earth who is always good and never sins.
21-22 Don’t eavesdrop! You may hear your servant cursing you! For you know how often you yourself curse others!
23 I have tried my best to be wise. I declared, “I will be wise,” but it didn’t work. 24 Wisdom is far away and very difficult to find. 25 I searched everywhere, determined to find wisdom and the reason for things . . . to prove to myself the wickedness of folly and that foolishness is madness.
26 A prostitute[b] is more bitter than death. May it please God that you escape from her, but sinners don’t evade her snares.
27-28 This is my conclusion, says the Preacher. Step by step I came to this result after researching in every direction: One tenth of one percent of the men I interviewed could be said to be wise, but not one woman!
29 And I found that though God has made men upright, each has turned away to follow his own downward road.
8 How wonderful to be wise, to understand things, to be able to analyze them and interpret them. Wisdom lights up a man’s face, softening its hardness.
2-3 Obey the king as you have vowed to do. Don’t always be trying to get out of doing your duty, even when it’s unpleasant. For the king punishes those who disobey. 4 The king’s command is backed by great power, and no one can withstand it or question it. 5 Those who obey him will not be punished. The wise man will find a time and a way to do what he says. 6-7 Yes, there is a time and a way for everything, though man’s trouble lies heavy upon him; for how can he avoid what he doesn’t know is going to happen?
8 No one can hold back his spirit from departing; no one has the power to prevent his day of death, for there is no discharge from that obligation and that dark battle. Certainly a man’s wickedness is not going to help him then.
9-10 I have thought deeply about all that goes on here in the world, where people have the power of injuring each other. I have seen wicked men buried, and as their friends returned from the cemetery, having forgotten all the dead man’s evil deeds, these men were praised in the very city where they had committed their many crimes! How odd! 11 Because God does not punish sinners instantly, people feel it is safe to do wrong. 12 But though a man sins a hundred times and still lives, I know very well that those who fear God will be better off, 13 unlike the wicked, who will not live long, good lives—their days shall pass away as quickly as shadows because they don’t fear God.
14 There is a strange thing happening here upon the earth: Providence seems to treat some good men as though they were wicked, and some wicked men as though they were good. This is all very vexing and troublesome!
15 Then I decided to spend my time having fun because I felt that there was nothing better in all the earth than that a man should eat, drink, and be merry, with the hope that this happiness would stick with him in all the hard work that God gives to mankind everywhere.
16-17 In my search for wisdom I observed all that was going on everywhere across the earth—ceaseless activity, day and night. (Of course, only God can see everything, and even the wisest man who says he knows everything, doesn’t!)
9 This, too, I carefully explored—that godly and wise men are in God’s will; no one knows whether he will favor them or not. All is chance! 2-3 The same providence confronts everyone, whether good or bad, religious or irreligious, profane or godly. It seems so unfair that one fate comes to all. That is why men are not more careful to be good but instead choose their own mad course, for they have no hope—there is nothing but death ahead anyway.
4 There is hope only for the living. “It is better to be a live dog than a dead lion!” 5 For the living at least know that they will die! But the dead know nothing ; they don’t even have their memories.[c] 6 Whatever they did in their lifetimes—loving, hating, envying—is long gone, and they have no part in anything here on earth anymore. 7 So go ahead, eat, drink, and be merry, for it makes no difference to God! 8 Wear fine clothes—with a dash of cologne! 9 Live happily with the woman you love through the fleeting days of life, for the wife God gives you is your best reward down here for all your earthly toil. 10 Whatever you do, do well, for in death, where you are going, there is no working or planning, or knowing, or understanding.
11 Again I looked throughout the earth and saw that the swiftest person does not always win the race, nor the strongest man the battle, and that wise men are often poor, and skillful men are not necessarily famous; but it is all by chance, by happening to be at the right place at the right time. 12 A man never knows when he is going to run into bad luck. He is like a fish caught in a net, or a bird caught in a snare.
13 Here is another thing that has made a deep impression on me as I have watched human affairs: 14 There was a small city with only a few people living in it, and a great king came with his army and besieged it. 15 There was in the city a wise man, very poor, and he knew what to do to save the city, and so it was rescued. But afterwards no one thought any more about him. 16 Then I realized that though wisdom is better than strength, nevertheless, if the wise man is poor, he will be despised, and what he says will not be appreciated. 17 But even so, the quiet words of a wise man are better than the shout of a king of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one rotten apple can spoil a barrelful.
8 I am no longer sorry that I sent that letter to you, though I was very sorry for a time, realizing how painful it would be to you. But it hurt you only for a little while. 9 Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you but because the pain turned you to God. It was a good kind of sorrow you felt, the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so that I need not come to you with harshness. 10 For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life. We should never regret his sending it. But the sorrow of the man who is not a Christian is not the sorrow of true repentance and does not prevent eternal death.
11 Just see how much good this grief from the Lord did for you! You no longer shrugged your shoulders but became earnest and sincere and very anxious to get rid of the sin that I wrote you about. You became frightened about what had happened and longed for me to come and help. You went right to work on the problem and cleared it up, punishing the man who sinned.[a] You have done everything you could to make it right.
12 I wrote as I did so the Lord could show how much you really do care for us. That was my purpose even more than to help the man who sinned or his father to whom he did the wrong.
13 In addition to the encouragement you gave us by your love, we were made happier still by Titus’ joy when you gave him such a fine welcome and set his mind at ease. 14 I told him how it would be—told him before he left me of my pride in you—and you didn’t disappoint me. I have always told you the truth and now my boasting to Titus has also proved true! 15 He loves you more than ever when he remembers the way you listened to him so willingly and received him so anxiously and with such deep concern. 16 How happy this makes me, now that I am sure all is well between us again. Once again I can have perfect confidence in you.
48 How great is the Lord! How much we should praise him. He lives upon Mount Zion in Jerusalem. 2 What a glorious sight! See Mount Zion rising north of the city[a] high above the plains for all to see—Mount Zion, joy of all the earth, the residence of the great King.
3 God himself is the defender of Jerusalem.[b] 4 The kings of the earth have arrived together to inspect the city. 5 They marvel at the sight and hurry home again, 6 afraid of what they have seen; they are filled with panic like a woman in travail! 7 For God destroys the mightiest warships with a breath of wind. 8 We have heard of the city’s glory—the city of our God, the Commander of the armies of heaven. And now we see it for ourselves! God has established Jerusalem forever.
9 Lord, here in your Temple we meditate upon your kindness and your love. 10 Your name is known throughout the earth, O God. You are praised everywhere for the salvation[c] you have scattered throughout the world. 11 O Jerusalem,[d] rejoice! O people of Judah, rejoice! For God will see to it that you are finally treated fairly. 12 Go, inspect the city! Walk around and count her many towers! 13 Note her walls and tour her palaces so that you can tell your children.
14 For this great God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide until we die.
17-19 Listen to this wise advice; follow it closely, for it will do you good, and you can pass it on to others: Trust in the Lord.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.