Ecclesiastes 7:27

7:27 The Teacher says:

I discovered this while trying to discover the scheme of things, item by item.

Ecclesiastes 2:15

2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me!

Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively wise?”

So I lamented to myself,

“The benefits of wisdom are ultimately meaningless!”

Ecclesiastes 3:16-17

The Problem of Injustice and Oppression

3:16 I saw something else on earth:

In the place of justice, there was wickedness,

and in the place of fairness, there was wickedness.

3:17 I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked;

for there is an appropriate time for every activity,

and there is a time of judgment for every deed.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-2

Everyone Will Die

9:1 So I reflected on all this, attempting to clear it all up.

I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;

whether a person will be loved or hated –

no one knows what lies ahead.

9:2 Everyone shares the same fate –

the righteous and the wicked,

the good and the bad,

the ceremonially clean and unclean,

those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner;

what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

Jeremiah 12:1-2

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you.

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice.

Why are wicked people successful?

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots.

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful.

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you.

Jeremiah 12:2

12:2 You plant them like trees and they put down their roots.

They grow prosperous and are very fruitful.

They always talk about you,

but they really care nothing about you.

Jeremiah 2:3-9

2:3 Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him. All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,” says the Lord.’”

The Lord Reminds Them of the Unfaithfulness of Their Ancestors

2:4 Now listen to what the Lord has to say, you descendants of Jacob,

all you family groups from the nation of Israel.

2:5 This is what the Lord says:

“What fault could your ancestors have possibly found in me

that they strayed so far from me?

They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.

2:6 They did not ask:

‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt,

who brought us through the wilderness,

through a land of desert sands and rift valleys,

through a land of drought and deep darkness,

through a land in which no one travels,

and where no one lives?’

2:7 I brought you into a fertile land

so you could enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty.

But when you entered my land, you defiled it;

you made the land I call my own loathsome to me.

2:8 Your priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’

Those responsible for teaching my law did not really know me.

Your rulers rebelled against me.

Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal.

They all worshiped idols that could not help them.

The Lord Charges Contemporary Israel with Spiritual Adultery

2:9 “So, once more I will state my case against you,” says the Lord.

“I will also state it against your children and grandchildren.

Jeremiah 3:3-9

3:3 That is why the rains have been withheld,

and the spring rains have not come.

Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute.

You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.

3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father!

You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.

3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you?

You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’

That is what you say,

but you continually do all the evil that you can.”

3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. 3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. 3:8 She also saw that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. 3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone.