Ecclesiastes 6:12–9:18

¹²For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his ^evain⁴ life, which he passes like ^fa shadow? For who can tell man what will be ^gafter him under the sun?

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly

7^hA good name is better than precious ointment,

and ⁱthe day of death than the day of birth.

²It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting,

for this is the end of all mankind,

and the living will ^jlay it to heart.

³Sorrow is better than laughter,

^kfor by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

⁵It is ^lbetter for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise

than to hear the song of fools.

^6mFor as the crackling of ⁿthorns under a pot,

so is the laughter of the fools;

this also is vanity.¹

⁷Surely ^ooppression drives the wise into madness,

and ^pa bribe corrupts the heart.

⁸Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,

and ^qthe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

^9rBe not quick in your spirit to become angry,

^sfor anger lodges in the heart² of fools.

¹⁰Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

an advantage to those who ^tsee the sun.

¹²For the protection of wisdom is like ^uthe protection of money,

and the advantage of knowledge is that ^vwisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

¹³Consider ^wthe work of God:

^xwho can make straight what he has made crooked?

^14yIn the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, ^zso that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵In my ^avain³ life I have seen everything. There is ^ba righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who ^cprolongs his life in his evildoing. ¹⁶Be not overly righteous, and do not ^dmake yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. ^eWhy should you die before your time? ¹⁸It is good that you should take hold of ^fthis, and from ^gthat ^hwithhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

¹⁹ⁱWisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

²⁰Surely ^jthere is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

²¹Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear ^kyour servant cursing you. ²²Your heart knows that ^lmany times you yourself have cursed others.

²³All this I have tested by wisdom. ^mI said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. ²⁴That which has been is far off, and ⁿdeep, very deep; ^owho can find it out?

^25pI turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. ²⁶And I find something more ^qbitter than death: ^rthe woman whose heart is ^ssnares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but ^tthe sinner is taken by her. ²⁷Behold, this is what I found, says ^uthe Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— ²⁸which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. ^vOne man among a thousand I found, but ^wa woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹See, this alone I found, that ^xGod made man upright, but ^ythey have sought out many schemes.

Keep the King’s Command

8Who is like the wise?

And who knows the interpretation of a thing?

^zA man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

and ^athe hardness of his face is changed.

²I say:¹ Keep the king’s command, because of ^bGod’s oath to him.^{2 3}Be not hasty to ^cgo from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴For the word of the king is supreme, and ^dwho may say to him, “What are you doing?” ⁵Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.^{3 6}For there is a time and a way ^efor everything, although man’s trouble⁴ lies heavy on him. ⁷For he ^fdoes not know what is to be, for ^gwho can tell him how it will be? ⁸No man has power to ^hretain the spirit, ⁱor power over the day of death. There is no ^jdischarge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. ^9kAll this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

Those Who Fear God Will Do Well

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of ^lthe holy place and were ^mpraised⁵ in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.^{6 11}Because ⁿthe sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, ^othe heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and ^pprolongs his life, yet I know that ^qit will be well with ^rthose who fear God, because they fear before him. ¹³But it will ^snot be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like ^ta shadow, because he does not fear before God.

Man Cannot Know God’s Ways

¹⁴There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people ^uto whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people ^vto whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵And I commend joy, for man ^whas nothing better under the sun but to ^xeat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see ^ythe business that is done on earth, how neither ^zday nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that ^aman cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, ^bhe cannot find it out.

Death Comes to All

9But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, ^chow the righteous and the wise and their deeds are ^din the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. ^2eIt is the same for all, since ^fthe same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,¹ to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who ^gswears is as he who shuns an oath. ³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that ^ethe same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and ^hmadness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵For the living know that they will die, but ⁱthe dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for ^jthe memory of them is forgotten. ⁶Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.

Enjoy Life with the One You Love

⁷Go, ^keat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

^8lLet your garments be always white. Let not ^moil be lacking on your head.

⁹Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your ⁿvain² life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your ^oportion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. ¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, ^pdo it with your might,^{3 q}for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Wisdom Better Than Folly

^11rAgain I saw that under the sun ^sthe race is not to the swift, nor ^tthe battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and ^uchance ^vhappen to them all. ¹²For man ^wdoes not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and ^xlike birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are ^ysnared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

¹³I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. ¹⁴There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. ¹⁵But there was found in it ^za poor, wise man, and he by his ^awisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. ¹⁶But I say that ^bwisdom is better than might, though ^cthe poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.

¹⁷The words of the wise heard in ^dquiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. ^18eWisdom is better than weapons of war, but ^fone sinner destroys much good.