Psalia.Poetry & wisdom / About this book
The speaker tests work, pleasure, wisdom and achievement against time and death. Easy answers repeatedly fall short. Alongside this searching are invitations to receive ordinary gifts, acknowledge limits and live responsibly before God.
EDITORIAL REFLECTION · NOT SCRIPTURE
Listen to the form as well as the words. A poem can return to an image, a proverb can sharpen a contrast, and a sustained conversation can give different voices room to speak. Read a complete unit before deciding which line carries its meaning.
Pay attention to what a passage can and cannot claim. A short saying about a pattern in life is not the same as a guarantee about every outcome. A prayer spoken from distress does not need to sound like a prayer spoken in celebration.
Use the outline to see the larger movement before settling into a chapter. Each section opens at its first chapter in the reader.
1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
3What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?
4One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.
5The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises.
Choose a chapter below, or enter its number.
Keep this question beside you
What remains worth receiving when you cannot secure or control the outcome?
A SPACE FOR YOUR OWN WORDS
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