Ecclesiastes 7

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.”