Ecclesiastes 5:10–7:29

10 Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?

11 Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat little or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

12 There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.

13 For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.

14 As he came forth naked from his mother’s womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour.

15 A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?

16 All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow.

17 This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.

18 And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.

19 For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight.

Chapter 6

There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men:

2 A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.

3 If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he.

4 For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten.

5 He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:

6 Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?

7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled.

8 What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?

9 Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.

10 He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is a man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself.

11 There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.

Chapter 7

What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun?

2 A good name is better than precious ointments: and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

3 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the living thinketh what is to come.

4 Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.

5 The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth.

6 It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by the flattery of fools.

7 For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity.

8 Oppression troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the strength of his heart.

9 Better is the end of a speech than the beginning. Better is the patient man than the presumptuous.

10 Be not quickly angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of a fool.

11 Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former times were better than they are now? for this manner of question is foolish.

12 Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun.

13 For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence: but learning and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth them.

14 Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom he hath despised.

15 In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may not find against him any just complaint.

16 These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his wickedness.

17 Be not over just: and be not more wise than is necessary, lest thou become stupid.

18 Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die before thy time.

19 It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and from him withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing.

20 Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes of the city.

21 For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not.

22 But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.

23 For thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often spoken evil of others.

24 I have tried all things in wisdom. I have said: I will be wise: and it departed farther from me,

25 Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall find it out?

26 I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and consider, and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the wickedness of the fool, and the error of the imprudent:

27 And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the hunter’s snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are bands. He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall be caught by her.

28 Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after another, that I might find out the account,

29 Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found.