Immerse: Poets Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 269
4:10–5:14
E cclesiastes
257
If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who
falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can
keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back
and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily
broken.
It is better to be a poor but wise youth than an old and foolish king who
refuses all advice. Such a youth could rise from poverty and succeed. He
might even become king, though he has been in prison. But then everyone
rushes to the side of yet another youth who replaces him. Endless crowds
stand around him, but then another generation grows up and rejects him,
too. So it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut.
It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Don’t make rash promises, and
don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven,
and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.
Too much activity gives you restless dreams; too many words make you
a fool.
When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for
God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. It
is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. Don’t let
your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple
messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make
God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved.
Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God
instead.
Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the
powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every
official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in
red tape and bureaucracy. Even the king milks the land for his own profit!
Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to
think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more
people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!
People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But
the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.
There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding
riches harms the saver. Money is put into risky investments that turn sour,
