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Ecclesiastes 4:5 (NIV)

Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.

Ecclesiastes 4:6 (NIV)

Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:7 (NIV)

Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:

There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless— a miserable business!

Ecclesiastes 8:9 (NIV)

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.

Ecclesiastes 8:10 (NIV)

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.

Ecclesiastes 8:11 (NIV)

When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.

Ecclesiastes 8:12 (NIV)

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.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (NIV)

Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 (NIV)

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Ecclesiastes 11:6 (NIV)

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

Ecclesiastes 11:7 (NIV)

Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

Ecclesiastes 11:8 (NIV)

However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 11:9 (NIV)

You who are young, be happy while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Ecclesiastes 11:10 (NIV)

So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 (NIV)

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—

Ecclesiastes 12:2 (NIV)

before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain;

Ecclesiastes 12:4 (NIV)

when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when people rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint;

Ecclesiastes 12:5 (NIV)

when people are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags itself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then people go to their eternal home and mourners go about the streets.

Ecclesiastes 12:6 (NIV)

Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well,

Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NIV)

and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:8 (NIV)

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!”

Ecclesiastes 12:9 (NIV)

Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs.

Ecclesiastes 12:10 (NIV)

The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

Ecclesiastes 12:11 (NIV)

The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.