Ecclesiastes 6:1–8:1

The Vanity of Life

¹There is an ^aevil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent ¹among men—

²a man to whom God ^agives riches and wealth and honor so that his soul ^blacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God does not empower him to eat from them, for a foreigner eats from them. This is ¹vanity and a sickening evil.

³If a man becomes the father of one hundred children and lives many years, however many the days of his years may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things, and he does not even have a proper ^aburial, then I say, “Better ^bthe miscarriage than he,

⁴for that one comes in vanity and goes into darkness; and that one’s name is covered in darkness.

⁵“Indeed, that one never sees the sun and never knows anything; ¹that one has more rest than he.

⁶“Even if the other man lives one thousand years twice and does not see good things—^ado not all go to the same place?”

^7aAll a man’s labor is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not fulfilled.

⁸For ^awhat advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the afflicted man have, knowing how to walk before the living?

⁹What the eyes ^asee is better than what the soul goes after. This too is ^bvanity and striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever ^aexists has already been named, and it is known what man is; and he ^bcannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is.

¹¹For there are many words which increase vanity. What then is the advantage to a man?

¹²For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few days of his vain life? He will make do with them like a ^ashadow. For who can tell a man ^bwhat will be after him under the sun?

CHAPTER 7

Wisdom and Folly Contrasted

¹Better is a ^agood name than good oil,

And better is the ^bday of one’s death than the day of one’s birth.

²Better to go to a house of mourning

Than to go to a house of feasting

Because ¹that is the ^aend of all mankind,

And the living ^bputs this in his heart.

^3aBetter is vexation than laughter,

For ^bwhen a face is sad a heart may be merry.

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

While the heart of fools is in the house of gladness.

⁵Better to ^alisten to the rebuke of a wise man

Than for one to listen to the song of fools.

⁶For as the crackling sound of ^athorn bushes under a pot,

So is the ^blaughter of the fool;

And this too is vanity.

⁷For ^aoppression gives a wise man over to madness,

And a ^bbribe ¹destroys the heart.

⁸Better is the ^aend of a matter than its beginning;

^bBetter is patience of spirit than haughtiness of spirit.

⁹Do not be ^1aeager in your spirit to be vexed,

For vexation rests in the bosom of fools.

¹⁰Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

¹¹Wisdom along with an inheritance is good

And an ^aadvantage to those who see the sun.

¹²For ^awisdom is a ^bshadow of protection as money is a shadow of protection,

And the advantage of knowledge is that ^cwisdom preserves the lives of its masters.

¹³See the ^awork of God,

For who is ^bable to straighten what He has bent?

^14aIn the day when there is good be of good cheer,

But ^bin the day when there is evil see—

God has made the one as well as the other

So that man will ^cnot find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything during my ^adays of vanity; there is ^ba righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is ^ca wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.

¹⁶Do not be excessively ^arighteous, and do not ^bbe overly wise. Why should you make yourself desolate?

¹⁷Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a simpleminded fool. Why should you ^adie before your time?

¹⁸It is good that you seize one thing and also not ¹let go of the other; for the one who ^afears God comes forth with ²both of them.

^19aWisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten men with power who are in a city.

²⁰Indeed, ^athere is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

²¹Also, do not give your heart to all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your slave ^acursing you.

²²For your heart also knows that you likewise have many times cursed others.

²³I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” ^abut it was far from me.

²⁴What has been is far away and ^aexceedingly deep. ^bWho can find it?

²⁵I ^aturned my heart to know, to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the wickedness of foolishness and the simpleminded folly of madness.

²⁶And I found more ^abitter than death the woman whose heart is ^bsnares and nets, whose hands are chains. ^cOne who is good before God will escape from her, but ^dthe sinner will be captured by her.

²⁷“See, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation,

²⁸which my soul still seeks but has not found. I have found one man out of a thousand, but I have not found a ^awoman among all these.

²⁹“See, I have found only this, that ^aGod made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”

CHAPTER 8

Keep the Command of the King

¹Who is like the wise man and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom ^aillumines his face and causes his ^bstern face to ¹beam.