I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world. God has laid a miserable fate upon us.

You can't straighten out what is crooked; you can't count things that aren't there.

I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind.

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.

Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers.

I thought to myself, "What happens to fools is going to happen to me, too. So what have I gained from being so wise?" "Nothing," I answered, "not a thing."

In addition, I have also noticed that in this world you find wickedness where justice and right ought to be.

I told myself, "God is going to judge the righteous and the evil alike, because every thing, every action, will happen at its own set time."

I thought long and hard about all this and saw that God controls the actions of wise and righteous people, even their love and their hate. No one knows anything about what lies ahead.

It makes no difference. The same fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the bad, to those who are religious and those who are not, to those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. A good person is no better off than a sinner; one who takes an oath is no better off than one who does not.

" LORD, if I argued my case with you, you would prove to be right. Yet I must question you about matters of justice. Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why do dishonest people succeed?

You plant them, and they take root; they grow and bear fruit. They always speak well of you, yet they do not really care about you.

In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling you made-up stories. For a long time now their Judge has been ready, and their Destroyer has been wide awake!

God did not spare the ancient world, but brought the flood on the world of godless people; the only ones he saved were Noah, who preached righteousness, and seven other people.

He rescued Lot, a good man, who was distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people.

And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment,

First of all, you must understand that in the last days some people will appear whose lives are controlled by their own lusts. They will make fun of you

They purposely ignore the fact that long ago God gave a command, and the heavens and earth were created. The earth was formed out of water and by water,

But the heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by the same command of God, in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed.

The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.

One fate comes to all alike, and this is as wrong as anything that happens in this world. As long as people live, their minds are full of evil and madness, and suddenly they die.

They start out with silly talk and end up with pure madness.

just as Jacob's sons were coming in from the fields. When they heard about it, they were shocked and furious that Shechem had done such a thing and had insulted the people of Israel by raping Jacob's daughter.

Get up! Purify the people and get them ready to come before me. Tell them to be ready tomorrow, because I, the LORD God of Israel, have this to say: 'Israel, you have in your possession some things that I ordered you to destroy! You cannot stand against your enemies until you get rid of these things!'

"No," she said. "Don't force me to do such a degrading thing! That's awful!

It is better to meet a mother bear robbed of her cubs than to meet some fool busy with a stupid project.

A fool doing some stupid thing a second time is like a dog going back to its vomit.