Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes is the most unexpected book in the Bible. The author, called "the Preacher", tests everything that promises meaning — work, pleasure, wealth, wisdom, grand projects — and concludes, repeatedly, that it is "vanity", a Hebrew word meaning breath, vapor, something you cannot hold. It is not a pessimistic book but an honest one: it acknowledges that death levels everyone and that much escapes human control. In the middle of the unease it recommends something simple: eat your bread, drink with gladness, enjoy your work and your company, because these come from God's hand. The poem of chapter 3 — "for everything there is a season" — is one of the best-known texts in world literature.