WEBVTT

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Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're

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taking this journey together to read the Bible

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in a year. Today's reading is from Ecclesiastes

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chapters 5 through 8. Chapter 5. Walk prudently

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when you go to the house of God, and draw near

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to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of

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fools, for they do not know that they do evil.

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Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your

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heart utter anything hastily before God, for

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God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore

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let your words be few, for a dream comes through

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much activity, and a fool's voice is known by

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his many words. When you make a vow to God, do

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not delay to pay it, for he has no pleasure in

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fools. Pay what you have vowed. Better not to

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vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your

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mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before

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the messenger of God that it was an error. Why

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should God be angry at your excuse and destroy

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the work of your hands? For in the multitude

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of dreams and many words there is also vanity,

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but fear God. If you see the oppression of the

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poor and the violent perversion of justice and

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righteousness in a province, do not marvel at

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the matter. For high official watches over high

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official, and higher officials are over them.

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Moreover, the profit of the land is for all.

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Even the king is served from the field. He who

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loves silver will not be satisfied with silver,

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nor he who loves abundance with increase. This

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also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase

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who eat them. So what profit have the owners

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except to see them with their eyes? The sleep

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of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little

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or much, but the abundance of the rich will not

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permit him to sleep. There is a severe evil which

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I have seen under the sun. Riches kept for their

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owner to his hurt, but those riches perish through

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misfortune. When he begets a son, there is nothing

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in his hand. As he came from his mother's womb,

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naked shall he return, to go as he came, and

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he shall take nothing from his labor, which he

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may carry away in his hand. And this also is

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a severe evil. Just exactly as he came, so shall

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he go. And what profit has he who has labored

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for the wind? All his days he also eats in darkness,

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and he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.

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Here is what I have seen. Chapter 6 There is

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an evil which I have seen under the sun, and

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it is common among men, a man to whom God has

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given riches and wealth and honor, so that he

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lacks nothing for himself of all he desires.

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Yet God does not give him power to eat of it,

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but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity,

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and it is an evil affliction. If a man begets

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a hundred children and lives many years, so that

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the days of his years are many, but his soul

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is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he

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has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is

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better than he. For it comes in vanity and departs

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in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

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Though it has not seen the sun or known anything,

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this has more rest than that man, even if he

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lives a thousand years twice, but has not seen

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goodness. Do not all go to one place? All the

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labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul

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is not satisfied. For what more has the wise

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man than the fool? What does the poor man have

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who knows how to walk before the living? Better

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is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of

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desire. This also is vanity and grasping for

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the wind. Whatever one is, he has been named

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already, for it is known that he is man, and

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he cannot contend with him who is mightier than

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he. Since there are many things that increase

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vanity, how is man the better? For who knows

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what is good for man in life? all the days of

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his vain life which he passes like a shadow.

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Who can tell a man what will happen after him

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under the sun? A good name is better than precious

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ointment, and the day of death than the day of

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one's birth. Better to go to the house of mourning

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than to go to the house of feasting, for that

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is the end of all men, and the living will take

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it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter,

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for by a sad countenance the heart is made better.

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The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

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but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

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It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than

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for a man to hear the song of fools. For like

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the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the

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laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. Surely

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oppression destroys a wise man's reason, and

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a bribe debases the heart. The end of a thing

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is better than its beginning. The patient in

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spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Do

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not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger

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rests in the bosom of fools. Do not say, why

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were the former days better than these? For you

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do not inquire wisely concerning this. Wisdom

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is good with an inheritance, and profitable to

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those who see the sun. For wisdom is a defense,

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as money is a defense. But the excellence of

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knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those

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who have it. Consider the work of God, for who

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can make straight what he has made crooked? In

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the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day

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of adversity consider. Surely God has appointed

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the one as well as the other, so that man can

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find out nothing that will come after him. I

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have seen everything in my days of vanity. There

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is a man who perishes in his righteousness, and

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there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his

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wickedness. Do not be overly righteous, nor be

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overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

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Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish. Why

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should you die before your time? It is good that

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you grasp this, and also not remove your hand

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from the other, for he who fears God will escape

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them all. Wisdom strengthens the wise, more than

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ten rulers of the city. For there is not a just

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man on earth who does good and does not sin.

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Also do not take to heart everything people say,

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lest you hear your servant cursing you. for many

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times also your own heart has known that even

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you have cursed others all this i have proved

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by wisdom i said i will be wise but it was far

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from me as for that which is far off and exceedingly

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deep who can find it out i applied my heart to

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know to search and seek out wisdom and the reason

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of things to know the wickedness of folly even

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of foolishness and madness and i find more bitter

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than death the woman whose heart is snares and

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nets whose hands are fetters. He who pleases

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God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall

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be trapped by her. Here is what I have found,

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says the preacher, adding one thing to the other

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to find out the reason, which my soul still seeks

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but I cannot find. One man among a thousand I

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have found, but a woman among all these I have

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not found. Truly, this only I have found, that

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God made man upright, but they have sought out

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many schemes. Chapter 8 Who is like a wise man,

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and who knows the interpretation of a thing?

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A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the

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sternness of his face is changed. I say, keep

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the king's commandment for the sake of your oath

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to God. Do not be hasty to go from his presence.

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Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for

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he does whatever pleases him. Where the word

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of a king is, there is power. And who may say

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to him, What are you doing? He who keeps his

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command will experience nothing harmful. And

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a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment.

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Because for every matter there is a time and

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judgment. Though the misery of man increases

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greatly, for he does not know what will happen.

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So who can tell him when it will occur? No one

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has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,

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and no one has power in the day of death. There

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is no release from that war. and wickedness will

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not deliver those who are given to it. All this

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I have seen, and applied my heart to every work

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that is done under the sun. There is a time in

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which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

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Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and

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gone from the place of holiness, and they were

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forgotten in the city where they had so done.

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This also is vanity, because the sentence against

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an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore

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the heart of the sons of men is fully set in

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them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a

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hundred times and his days are prolonged, yet

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I surely know that it will be well with those

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who fear God, who fear before him. But it will

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not be well with the wicked, nor will he prolong

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his days, which are as a shadow, because he does

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not fear before God. There is a vanity which

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occurs on earth, that there are just men. to

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whom it happens according to the work of the

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wicked. Again, there are wicked men, to whom

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it happens according to the work of the righteous.

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I said that this also is vanity. So I commanded

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enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under

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the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry. For

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this will remain with him in his labor all the

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days of his life, which God gives him under the

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sun. When I applied my heart to know wisdom and

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to see the business that is done on earth, even

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though one sees no sleep day or night, then I

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saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find

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out the work that is done under the sun. For

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though a man labors to discover it, yet he will

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not find it. Moreover, though a wise man attempts

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to know it, he will not be able to find it. I

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hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I

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did and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow

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to continue on our journey. God bless you and

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have a great day.