Ecclesiastes 7–9

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.

Chapter 9

Men Are in the Hand of God

¹For I have taken all this to my heart and explain ¹it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are ^ain the hand of God. ^bMan does not know whether it will be ^clove or hatred; anything ²awaits him.

^2aIt is the same for all. There is ^bone fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who ¹is afraid to swear.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is ^aone fate for all men. Furthermore, ^bthe hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and ^cinsanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead.

⁴For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know they will die; but the dead ^ado not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their ^bmemory is forgotten.

⁶Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a ^ashare in all that is done under the sun.

⁷Go then, ^aeat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works.

⁸Let your ^aclothes be white all the time, and let not ^boil be lacking on your head.

⁹Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your ^1afleeting life which He has given to you under the sun²; for this is your ^breward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.

Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, ^ado it with all your might; for there is no ^bactivity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in ^cSheol where you are going.

¹¹I again saw under the sun that the ^arace is not to the swift and the ^bbattle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor ^cwealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and ^dchance overtake them all.

¹²Moreover, man does not ^aknow his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and ^bbirds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ^censnared at an evil time when it ^dsuddenly falls on them.

¹³Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and ¹it impressed me.

¹⁴There ^awas a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed large siegeworks against it.

¹⁵But there was found in it a ^apoor wise man and he ¹delivered the city ^bby his wisdom. Yet ^cno one remembered that poor man.

¹⁶So I said, “^aWisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded.

¹⁷The ^awords of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

^18aWisdom is better than weapons of war, but ^bone sinner destroys much good.