Ecclesiastes 7–9

The Value of Practical Wisdom

7A ^agood name is better than precious ointment,

And the day of death than the day of one’s ^bbirth;

²Better 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 take it to ^cheart.

³¹Sorrow is better than laughter,

^dFor by a sad countenance the heart is made ²better.

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

But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

^5eIt is better to ³hear the rebuke of the wise

Than for a man to hear the song of fools.

^6fFor like the ⁴crackling of thorns under a pot,

So is the laughter of the fool.

This also is vanity.

⁷Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason,

^gAnd a bribe ⁵debases the heart.

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

^hThe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

⁹ⁱDo not hasten in your spirit to be angry,

For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

¹⁰Do not say,

“Why were the former days better than these?”

For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

And profitable ^jto those who see the sun.

¹²For wisdom is ⁶a ^kdefense as money is a defense,

But the ⁷excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives ^llife to those who have it.

¹³Consider the work of God;

For ^mwho can make straight what He has made crooked?

¹⁴ⁿIn the day of prosperity be joyful,

But in the day of adversity consider:

Surely God has appointed the one ⁸as well as the other,

So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything in my days of vanity:

^oThere is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,

And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.

^16pDo not be overly righteous,

^qNor be overly wise:

Why should you destroy yourself?

¹⁷Do not be overly wicked,

Nor be foolish:

^rWhy should you die before your time?

¹⁸It is good that you grasp this,

And also not remove your hand from the other;

For he who ^sfears God will ⁹escape them all.

^19tWisdom strengthens the wise

More than ten rulers of the city.

^20uFor there is not a just man on earth who does good

And does not sin.

²¹Also do not take to heart everything people say,

Lest you hear your servant cursing you.

²²For many times, also, your own heart has known

That even you have cursed others.

²³All this I have ¹proved by wisdom.

^vI said, “I will be wise”;

But it was far from me.

^24wAs for that which is far off and ^xexceedingly deep,

Who can find it out?

^25yI applied my heart to know,

To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things,

To know the wickedness of folly,

Even of foolishness and madness.

^26zAnd I find more bitter than death

The woman whose heart is snares and nets,

Whose hands are fetters.

²He who pleases God shall escape from her,

But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

²⁷“Here is what I have found,” says ^athe Preacher,

“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,

²⁸Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:

^bOne man among a thousand I have found,

But a woman among all these I have not found.

²⁹Truly, this only I have found:

^cThat God made man upright,

But ^dthey have sought out many schemes.”

8Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing?

^aA man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

And ^bthe ¹sternness of his face is changed.

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

²I say, “Keep the king’s commandment ^cfor the sake of your oath to God. ^3dDo not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”

⁴Where the word of a king is, there is power;

And ^ewho may say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;

And a wise man’s heart ²discerns both time and judgment,

⁶Because ^ffor every matter there is a time and judgment,

Though the misery of man ³increases greatly.

^7gFor he does not know what will happen;

So who can tell him when it will occur?

^8hNo one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,

And no one has power in the day of death.

There is ⁱno release from that war,

And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

⁹All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

Death Comes to All

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were ^jforgotten ⁴in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. ^11kBecause the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. ^12lThough a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that ^mit will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. ¹³But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it ⁿhappens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the ^orighteous. I said that this also is vanity.

^15pSo I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that ^qa man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

9For I ¹considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: ^athat the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. ^2bAll things come alike to all:

One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;

To the ²good, the clean, and the unclean;

To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.

As is the good, so is the sinner;

He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴But for him who 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 will die;

But ^cthe dead know nothing,

And they have no more reward,

For ^dthe memory of them is forgotten.

⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;

Nevermore will they have a share

In anything done under the sun.

⁷Go, ^eeat your bread with joy,

And drink your wine with a merry heart;

For God has already accepted your works.

⁸Let your garments always be white,

And let your head lack no oil.

⁹³Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; ^ffor that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

^10gWhatever your hand finds to do, do it with your ^hmight; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

¹¹I returned ⁱand saw under the sun that—

The race is not to the swift,

Nor the battle to the strong,

Nor bread to the wise,

Nor riches to men of understanding,

Nor favor to men of skill;

But time and ^jchance happen to them all.

¹²For ^kman also does not know his time:

Like fish taken in a cruel net,

Like birds caught in a snare,

So the sons of men are ^lsnared in an evil time,

When it falls suddenly upon them.

Wisdom Superior to Folly

¹³This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: ^14mThere was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great ⁴snares around it. ¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶Then I said:

“Wisdom is better than ⁿstrength.

Nevertheless ^othe poor man’s wisdom is despised,

And his words are not heard.

¹⁷Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard

Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war;

But ^pone sinner destroys much good.”