Ecclesiastes 7–8

Chapter 7

Wisdom and Folly Contrasted

¹A ^agood name is better than a good ointment,

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

²It is better to go to a house of mourning

Than to go to a house of feasting,

Because ¹that is the ^aend of every man,

And the living ^2btakes it to ³heart.

^3aSorrow is better than laughter,

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

⁴The ¹mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,

While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

⁵It is better to ^alisten to the rebuke of a wise man

Than for one to listen to the song of fools.

⁶For as the ¹crackling of ^athorn bushes under a pot,

So is the ^blaughter of the fool;

And this too is futility.

⁷For ^aoppression makes a wise man mad,

And a ^bbribe ¹corrupts the heart.

⁸The ^aend of a matter is better than its beginning;

^bPatience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.

⁹Do not be ^1aeager in your heart to be angry,

For anger resides 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 ¹protection just as money is protection,

But the advantage of knowledge is that ^bwisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.

¹³Consider the ^awork of God,

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

^14aIn the day of prosperity be happy,

But ^bin the day of adversity consider—

God has made the one as well as the other

So that man will ^cnot discover anything that will be after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything during my ^1alifetime of futility; there is ^ba righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is ^ca wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

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

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

¹⁸It is good that you grasp 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 rulers 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 ¹take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant ^acursing you.

²²For ¹you also have realized 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 remote and ^aexceedingly ¹mysterious. ^bWho can discover it?

²⁵I ^1adirected my ²mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness.

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

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

²⁸which ¹I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a ^awoman among all these.

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

Chapter 8

Obey Rulers

¹Who is like the wise man and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom ^aillumines ¹him and causes his ^bstern face to ²beam.

²I say, “Keep the ¹command of the king because of the ^aoath ²before God.

³“Do not be in a hurry ^1ato leave him. Do not join in an evil matter, for he will do whatever he pleases.”

⁴Since the word of the king is authoritative, ^awho will say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵He who ^akeeps a royal command ^bexperiences no ¹trouble, for a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure.

⁶For ^athere is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man’s trouble is heavy upon him.

⁷If no one ^aknows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen?

^8aNo man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and ^bevil will not deliver ¹those who practice it.

⁹All this I have seen and applied my ¹mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised ^aauthority over another man to his hurt.

¹⁰So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are ^asoon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.

¹¹Because the ^asentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore ^bthe hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may ^alengthen his life, still I know that it will be ^bwell for those who fear God, who fear ¹Him openly.

¹³But it will ^anot be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a ^bshadow, because he does not fear God.

¹⁴There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are ^arighteous men to whom it ¹happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are ^bevil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.

¹⁵So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for ^aa man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his ¹toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶When I ^agave my heart to know wisdom and to see the task which has been done on the earth (even though one should ^1bnever sleep day or night),

¹⁷and I saw every work of God, I concluded that ^aman cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and ^bthough the wise man should say, “I know,” he cannot discover.