Ecclesiastes 7–9

Wise Sayings

7A good name is better than fine perfume, ^h

and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth. ⁱ

²It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting,

since that is the end of all mankind,

and the living should take it to heart. ^j

³Grief is better than laughter,

for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. ^k

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

but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.

⁵It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person

than to listen to the song of fools, ^l

⁶for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, ^m

so is the laughter of the fool.

This too is futile.

⁷Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, ⁿ

and a bribe destroys the mind. ^o

⁸The end of a matter is better than its beginning;

a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit. ^p

⁹Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry,

for anger abides in the heart of fools. ^q

¹⁰Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” ^r

since it is not wise of you to ask this.

¹¹Wisdom is as good as an inheritance

and an advantage to those who see the sun,

¹²because wisdom is protection as money is protection,

and the advantage of knowledge

is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner. ^s

¹³Consider the work of God, ^t

for who can straighten out

what He has made crooked? ^u

¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, ^vbut in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, ^wso that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

Avoiding Extremes

¹⁵In my futile life ^xI have seen everything: ^ythere is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, ^zand there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil. ^a16Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. ^bWhy should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time? ^c18It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.

¹⁹Wisdom makes the wise man stronger

than ten rulers of a city. ^d

²⁰There is certainly no righteous man on the earth

who does good and never sins. ^e

²¹Don’t pay attention ^fto everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, ^g22for you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.

What the Teacher Found

²³I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. ²⁴What exists is beyond reach and very deep. ^hWho can discover it? ²⁵I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom ⁱand an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. ²⁶And I find more bitter than death ^jthe woman who is a trap, ^kher heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. ²⁷“Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, ²⁸which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman. ^l29Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, ^mbut they pursued many schemes.”

Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities

8Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. ⁿ

²Keep ^othe king’s command because of your oath made before God. ^p3Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, ^qand don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. ⁴For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” ^r5The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, ^sand a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. ⁶For every activity there is a right time and procedure, ^teven though man’s troubles are heavy on him. ⁷Yet no one knows what will happen ^ubecause who can tell him what will happen? ⁸No one has authority over the wind ^vto restrain it, ^wand there is no authority over the day of death; ^xthere is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. ⁹All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.

¹⁰In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, ^yand they were praised ^zin the city where they did so. This too is futile. ¹¹Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, ^athe heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. ¹²Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, ^byet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, ^cfor they are reverent before Him. ¹³However, it will not go well with the wicked, ^dand they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, ^efor they are not reverent before God.

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, ^fand there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. ^gI say that this too is futile. ¹⁵So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, ^hfor this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom ⁱand to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), ¹⁷I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; ^jeven if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

Enjoy Life Despite Death

9Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands. ^kPeople don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. ²Everything is the same for everyone: ^lthere is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, ^mfor the good and the bad, ⁿfor the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath. ³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live ^o—after that they go to the dead. ⁴But there is hope for whoever is joined ^pwith all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten. ^q6Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works. ^r8Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head. ^s9Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting ^tlife, ^uwhich has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle ^vunder the sun. ¹⁰Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength, ^wbecause there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom ^xin Sheol where you are going.

The Limitations of Wisdom

¹¹Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, ^yor the battle to the strong, ^zor bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them. ¹²For man certainly does not know his time: ^alike fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, ^bso people are trapped in an evil time ^cas it suddenly falls on them. ^d

¹³I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me: ¹⁴There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it. ¹⁵Now a poor wise man was found in the city, ^eand he delivered the city by his wisdom. ^fYet no one remembered that poor man. ¹⁶And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, ^gbut the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

¹⁷The calm words of the wise are heeded

more than the shouts of a ruler over fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war,

but one sinner can destroy much good. ^h