Thematic Bible: Results of a pleasure-seeking life


Thematic Bible



I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house;

If, after the way of men, I was fighting with beasts at Ephesus, what profit is it to me? If the dead do not come to life again, let us take our pleasure in feasting, for tomorrow we come to an end.

And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead.

There is nothing better for a man than taking meat and drink, and having delight in his work. This again I saw was from the hand of God.

This is what I have seen: it is good and fair for a man to take meat and drink and to have joy in all his work under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; that is his reward.

So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.


But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.


Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house;

Now there was a certain man of great wealth, who was dressed in fair clothing of purple and delicate linen, and was shining and glad every day.

And at the end of that time, the king gave a feast for all the people who were present in Shushan, the king's town, small as well as great, for seven days, in the outer square of the garden of the king's house. There were fair hangings of white and green and blue, fixed with cords of purple and the best linen to silver rings and pillars of polished stone: the seats were of gold and silver on a floor of red and white and yellow and black stone.

And they gave them drink in gold vessels, every vessel being different, and wine of the kingdom, freely given by the king.

And the amount of Solomon's food for one day was thirty measures of crushed grain and sixty measures of meal; Ten fat oxen and twenty oxen from the fields, and a hundred sheep, in addition to harts and gazelles and roes and fat fowls.

And all King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold; not one was of silver, for no one gave a thought to silver in the days of King Solomon. For the king had Tarshish-ships at sea with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the Tarshish-ships came with gold and silver and ivory and monkeys and peacocks.


Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.

And not long after, the younger son got together everything which was his and took a journey into a far-away country, and there all his money went in foolish living.

But when this your son came, who has been wasting your property with bad women, you put to death the fat young ox for him.

He who does not give his mind to his work is brother to him who makes destruction.



For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error;

You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction.

A man who is a lover of wisdom is a joy to his father: but he who goes in the company of loose women is a waster of wealth.

But when this your son came, who has been wasting your property with bad women, you put to death the fat young ox for him.




You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction.




But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.


So now take note of this, you who are given up to pleasure, living without fear of evil, saying in your heart, I am, and there is no one like me; I will never be a widow, or have my children taken from me. But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day, the loss of children and of husband: in full measure they will come on you, for all your secret arts, and all your wonders.


For the evil which overtakes them is the reward of their evil-doing: such men take their pleasure in the delights of the flesh even in the daytime; they are like the marks of a disease, like poisoned wounds among you, feasting together with you in joy;






Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain