⁷Go, eat – with rejoicing – your bread,
drink – with a good heart – your wine ,
because God already has approved your actions.
⁸At all times let it be that your clothes are white
and let it be that oil is not lacking on your head.
⁹Look to the days with the wife
whom you love
all the days of your ”mere-breath’ life
that you have been given under the sun,
all your mere-breath days,
because that is your portion in your lifetime
and in your labour that you work under the sun.
¹⁰Everything that your hand finds to do,
do with your strength,
because there is no labour, thought, knowledge, or wisdom in She’ol,
where you’re going.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

⁴For whoever is joined to all the living –
there is hope,
because a living dog is better than a dead lion.
⁵Because the living know that they will die,
but the dead don’t know anything.
There is no more reward for them,
because the memory of them has gone out of mind.
⁶All of their love and their hostility and their passion
has already perished.
They have no more share
for ever
in all that happens under the sun.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

So I set my heart to all this
and examining all this-
the righteous and the wise
and their deeds
are in the hand of God,
– whether love or hate
no one knows anything
ahead of them.

One fate: all things for everyone.
To the righteous and to the wicked
to the good…
to the clean and unclean
to those who offer sacrifices and to those who do not
As to the good person,
so to the sinner
and to the one who swears an oath,
so to those who fear to swear.

This is an evil
for all who labour under the sun
one fate is for all
and also the hearts o f the children of man
are full of wickedness
and folly is in their hearts in their lifetime
and after, they (go) to the dead.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)

¹⁶When I gave my heart to know wisdom
and look at the business that is done on the earth
– even though day and night, one does not see sleep with one’s eyes, –
¹⁷and I looked at all the work of God:
a human being cannot find out about the work that is done under the sun.
When a human being works in seeking, he doesn’t find.
Even if a wise person says they will know, they cannot find it out.

Eternal God and Father,
you create us by your power,
and redeem us by your love,
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves in love and service
to one another and to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

¹⁴What occurs on the earth is a mere-breath:
that – there are righteous people on whom it falls
as on the wicked,
and there are wicked on whom it falls
as on the righteous.
I said, ‘This too is mere breath’.

¹⁵So I myself praised (the idea of) rejoicing,
because there’s no good for a person under the sun
except to eat and to drink and to rejoice.
That can accompany them in their labour
for the days of their life
that God has given them under the sun.

O Lord, in whom is our hope,
remove far from us, we pray thee,
empty hopes and presumptuous confidence.
Make our hearts so right with thy most holy and loving heart,
that hoping in thee we may do good;
until that day when faith and hope
shall be abolished by sight and possession,
and love shall be all in all.

Christina Rossetti (1830-94)

¹⁰And in this case
I saw wicked people buried,
and they came and went from the Holy Place.
and they were (praised) in the town where they had so acted.
This too is mere breath.

¹¹When a sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly,
then the hearts of the sons/daughters of man
are emboldened to act wickedly
¹²-when a sinner does something bad a hundred times,
and (life) is extended for them.

Because I know that
it will be good for people
who live in awe of God,
– because they live in awe of him.

¹³And it will not be good for the wicked person
and they won’t extend their days,
-like a shadow,
because they doesn’t live in awe before God.

Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth,
in a serious seeking after thee,
and in an affectionate walking with thee,
every day of our lives;
that when thou comest,
we may be found not hiding our talent,
nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished,
but waiting and longing for our Lord,
our glorious King, for ever and ever.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

⁵The one who keeps a command(ment)
will not know (experience) a bad thing.
And the heart of a wise person will know
the right time and just way.
⁶Because for every business
there is a right time and just way
-when what is bad for people is great upon them.
⁷Because they don’t know what will happen,
because who can tell them when it will happen?
⁸There’s no person who has power over the wind/breath/spirit,
to hold back the wind/breath/spirit,
and there’s no one who has power
over the day of death.
There’s no discharge during the battle,
and wickedness does not allow an escape
to those are masters (of wickedness).
⁹ I saw all this as I gave my heart to every action
that happens under the sun,
the time – when one person holds power over (another) person,
with bad results for them.

Lord God,
you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
you renew our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love.

Teach us to hunger
for Christ who is the true and living bread,
and to live by every word
that comes from your mouth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

8 Who is like the wise person,
and who knows the meaning of a word?:

‘A person’s wisdom brightens their face,
and the strength of their face is changed’.

²I (?) keep the king’s word,
and on account of the word of oath to God ³don’t be fearful.

You go out from before him;
don’t stand against a bad word.
Because he can do anything that he pleases,
⁴in that the king’s word has power,
And who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’;

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.

Alcuin

²⁶I myself find more bitter than death
is the woman who is a great snare,
whose heart is a great net,
whose hands are a great chain.
One who is good-before-God escapes from her,
but the one who sins is caught by her.
²⁷Look, this is what I’ve found,
– Qoholet said-
adding one thing to another
to find a conclusion,
²⁸which my heart sought further
but did not find.
I found one human being among a thousand,
but a woman among these I didn’t find.
²⁹ Look at this alone,
I found that God made humanity upright,
but they have sought many schemes.

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

²³I tested all this with wisdom,
I said ‘Let me be wise’,
but it is far from me.
²⁴What happens is far away
and deep, deep; who can find it out?
²⁵I myself turned round my heart
to know
and to explore,
and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things,
and to know that wickedness is foolishness
and foolishness is madness.

ternal Light, shine into our hearts,
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil,
Eternal Power, be our support,
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance,
Eternal Pity, have mercy upon us;
that with all our heart and mind
and soul and strength we may seek thy face
and be brought by thine infinite mercy
to thy holy presence;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alcuin (735-804)