Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! 17 I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”
18 I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. 19 For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe[a] and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! 20 Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. 21 For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is our lot in life. And no one can bring us back to see what happens after we die.
4 Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless. 2 So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. 3 But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun.
4 Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
5 “Fools fold their idle hands, leading them to ruin.”
6 And yet, “Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind.”
I. The disappointment of injustice (vv. 16-20)
• Recognizing injustice in society is
• If our goal in life is justice, then we will be
• There will be a season of justice after
• People are
II. The illusion of justice (vv. 21-4:1)
• If eternity is not real then justice is an
• Christianity says all of life’s experiences matter because the
physical is
• Sexism and racism share the same root of
• Racism and sexism dehumanize people by preoccupation with
• Racism and sexism are propagated by
III. The joy in justice (vv. 2-6)
• Only a perfect
• To harm
• The joy in justice is not oppressing the
• The joy in justice is understanding a failure to
• The joy in justice is not confusing silence with