Ecclesiastes 9:5

[Astreja]

So, if Hebrew has the past tense, why does it say "God says" rather than "God said"?

In English there's such a thing as the "historical present." 

So if you're writing a history book, you might tell the events of the past in present tense. Something like, "At this point Caesar is unaware of the plot against him, so he attends the Senate meeting as usual. While Caesar remains undefended, Publius Servilius Casca strikes the first blow." If it's clear from context what time you're writing about, narration is often done this way.

When we were studying tenses in Latin last winter/spring, we learned that Latin can do this as well - Sometimes a writer will start describing a historical event in the present tense (for example, a battle scene).