Bible study · Ecclesiastes 9:1-18
Ecclesiastes 9: In the hand of God
Read Ecclesiastes 9:1-18 before you meet.
In a few lines
The chapter opens with the righteous and the wise "in the hand of God" (9:1) and turns to "Whatever your hand finds to do" (9:10): in Hebrew one word, yad. And the poor wise man who delivered the city is one "no man remembered" (9:15), with the verb behind 9:5's memory: of the dead, "their memory is forgotten" (9:5).
The verse to carry
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.”
Ecclesiastes 9:10
To talk about
1. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might" (9:10). What has your hand found to do in this season, and what would doing it with your might look like?
2. "the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong" (9:11). When has something turned out differently from what strength or skill led you to expect, and how did you respond?
3. "yet no man remembered that same poor man" (9:15). Who has done you good that others may have forgotten, and how might you remember them this week?