Ecclesiastes 6:11–9:18

¹¹Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man ^othe better? ¹²For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, ^†all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as ^ua shadow? for ^xwho can tell a man ^ywhat shall be after him under the sun?

7A ^agood ^bname is better than precious ^bointment; and ^cthe day of death than the day of one’s birth. ²It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will ^dlay it to his heart. ^3||eSorrow is better than laughter: ^ffor by the sadness of the countenance ^gthe heart is made better. ⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. ^5hIt is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. ⁶For ⁱas the ^†crackling of thorns under a pot, ^kso is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.

⁷Surely ^loppression ^mmaketh a wise man mad; and ⁿa gift destroyeth the heart. ⁸Better is ^othe end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and ^pthe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. ^9qBe not hasty in thy spirit ^pto be angry: for anger ^rresteth in the bosom of fools. ¹⁰Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire ^†wisely concerning this. ¹¹Wisdom is ^||good with an inheritance: and by it there is ^sprofit ^tto them that see the sun. ¹²For wisdom is a ^†defence, and money is a ^†defence: but the ^uexcellency of knowledge is, that wisdom ^wgiveth life to ^xthem that have it. ¹³Consider the work of God: for who can ^ymake that straight, which he hath ^yzmade crooked? ^14aIn the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath ^†set the one over against the other, ^bto the end that man should find nothing after him.

¹⁵All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: ^cthere is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth ^dhis life in his wickedness. ¹⁶Be not righteous over much; ^eneither make thyself ^fover wise: why shouldest thou ^†destroy thyself? ¹⁷Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: ^gwhy shouldest thou die ^†before thy time? ¹⁸It is good that thou shouldest take hold of ^hthis; yea, also from ⁱthis ^kwithdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all. ^19lWisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten ^mmighty men which are in the city. ²⁰ⁿFor there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and ⁿsinneth not. ²¹Also ^†otake no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear ^pthy servant curse thee: ^22oFor oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.

²³All this have I proved by wisdom: ^qI said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. ²⁴That which is far off, and ^rexceeding deep, ^swho can find it out? ^25†tI applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the ^ureason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness: ²⁶And I find more ^wbitter than death the woman, whose heart is ^xsnares and nets, and her hands as bands: ^†whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but ^ythe sinner shall be taken by her. ²⁷Behold, this have I found, ^zsaith the preacher, ^||counting one by one, to find out the account: ²⁸Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: ^abone man among a thousand have I found; but a woman ^camong all those have I not found. ²⁹Lo, this only have I found, ^dthat God hath made man upright; but ^ethey have sought out many ^finventions.

8Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? ^aa man’s wisdom ^bmaketh his face to shine, and ^†the boldness of his face shall be changed. ²I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that ^cin regard of ^dthe oath of God. ^3eBe not hasty ^fto go out of his sight: ^gstand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. ⁴Where the word of a king is, there is ^hpower: and ⁱwho may say unto him, What doest thou? ⁵Whoso keepeth the commandment ^†shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and ^jjudgment.

⁶Because ^kto every purpose there is time and ^jjudgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. ⁷For ^lhe knoweth not that which shall be: for ^mwho can tell him ^||when it shall be? ⁸There is no man that hath ⁿpower over the spirit ^oto retain the spirit; neither hath he ^hpower in the day of death: and there is no ^||pdischarge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver ^qthose that are given to it. ⁹All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. ¹⁰And ^rso I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from ^sthe place of the holy, and ^tthey were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

^11uBecause sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men ^xis fully set in them to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and ^yhis ^zadays be prolonged, yet surely I know that ^ait shall be well ^bwith them that fear God, which fear before him: ¹³But it ^bcshall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are ^das a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, ^eunto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, ^fto whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵Then I commended mirth, because ^ga man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall ^habide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the ⁱbusiness that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) ¹⁷Then I beheld all the work of God, that ^ka man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, ^lyet shall he not be able to find it.

9For all this ^†I considered in my heart even to ^adeclare all this, ^bthat the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: ^cno man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. ^2dAll things come alike to all: there is ^eone event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and ^fhe that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. ³This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is ^eone event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and ^gmadness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵For the living know that they shall die: but ^hthe dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for ⁱthe memory of them is forgotten. ⁶Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is ^know perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

⁷Go thy way, ^leat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; ^mfor God ^know accepteth thy works. ⁸Let ⁿthy garments be always white; and ^olet thy head lack no ointment. ^9†Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, ^pwhich he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: ^qfor that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. ¹⁰Whatsoever ^rthy hand findeth to do, ^sdo it with thy might; for there is no work, nor ^tdevice, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

¹¹I ^ureturned, and saw under the sun, that ^xthe race is not to the swift, nor ^ythe battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet ^zfavour to men of skill; but time and ^achance ^bhappeneth to them all. ¹²For ^cman also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil ^dnet, and as ^ethe birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men ^fsnared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

¹³This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: ¹⁴There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and ^gbesieged it, and built great ^hbulwarks against it: ¹⁵Now there was found in it a ⁱpoor wise man, and he ^kby his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same ⁱpoor man. ¹⁶Then said I, ^lWisdom is better than strength: nevertheless ^mthe ⁱpoor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. ¹⁷The words of wise men are heard in ⁿquiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. ^18lWisdom is better than weapons of war: but ^oone sinner destroyeth much good.