Ecclesiastes 4–8

Chapter 4

¹Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. ²And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive; ³but better than both is he who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

⁴Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

⁵The fool folds his hands, and eats his own flesh.

⁶Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

⁷Again, I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸a person who has no one, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up. ¹¹Again, if two lie together, they are warm; but how can one be warm alone? ¹²And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who will no longer take advice, ¹⁴even though he had gone from prison to the throne or in his own kingdom had been born poor. ¹⁵I saw all the living who move about under the sun, as well as that youth, who was to stand in his place; ¹⁶there was no end of all the people; he was over all of them. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Chapter 5

¹Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. ²Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.

³For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.

⁴When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. ⁵It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ⁶Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

⁷For when dreams increase, empty words grow many: but do you fear God.

⁸If you see in a province the poor oppressed and justice and right violently taken away, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. ⁹But in all, a king is an advantage to a land with cultivated fields.

¹⁰He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity.

¹¹When goods increase, they increase who eat them; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

¹²Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let him sleep.

¹³There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, ¹⁴and those riches were lost in a bad venture; and he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. ¹⁵As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil, which he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he that he toiled for the wind, ¹⁷and spent all his days in darkness and grief, in much vexation and sickness and resentment?

¹⁸Behold, what I have seen to be good and to be fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life which God has given him, for this is his lot. ¹⁹Every man also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and find enjoyment in his toil—this is the gift of God. ²⁰For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Chapter 6

¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon men: ²a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them; this is vanity; it is a sore affliction. ³If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but he does not enjoy life’s good things, and also has no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better off than he. ⁴For it comes into vanity and goes into darkness, and in darkness its name is covered; ⁵moreover it has not seen the sun or known anything; yet it finds rest rather than he. ⁶Even though he should live a thousand years twice told, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?

⁷All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. ⁸For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? ⁹Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. ¹¹The more words, the more vanity, and what is man the better? ¹²For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

Chapter 7

¹A good name is better than precious ointment;

and the day of death, than the day of birth.

²It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting;

for this is the end of all men,

and the living will lay it to heart.

³Sorrow is better than laughter,

for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.

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

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

⁵It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise

than to hear the song of fools.

⁶For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,

so is the laughter of the fools;

this also is vanity.

⁷Surely oppression makes the wise man foolish,

and a bribe corrupts the mind.

⁸Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;

and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

⁹Be not quick to anger,

for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

¹⁰Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

an advantage to those who see the sun.

¹²For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money;

and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

¹³Consider the work of God;

who can make straight what he has made crooked?

¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵In my vain life I have seen everything; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil-doing. ¹⁶Be not righteous overmuch, and do not make yourself overwise; why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷Be not wicked overmuch, neither be a fool; why should you die before your time? ¹⁸It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand; for he who fears God shall come forth from them all.

¹⁹Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers that are in a city.

²⁰Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

²¹Do not give heed to all the things that men say, lest you hear your servant cursing you; ²²your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.

²³All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, “I will be wise”; but it was far from me. ²⁴That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? ²⁵I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness which is madness. ²⁶And I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters; he who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. ²⁷Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, adding one thing to another to find the sum, ²⁸which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹Behold, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.

Chapter 8

¹Who is like the wise man?

And who knows the interpretation of a thing?

A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

and the hardness of his countenance is changed.

²Keep the king’s command, and because of your sacred oath be not dismayed; ³go from his presence, do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” ⁵He who obeys a command will meet no harm, and the mind of a wise man will know the time and way. ⁶For every matter has its time and way, although man’s trouble lies heavy upon him. ⁷For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? ⁸No man has power to retain the spirit, or authority over the day of death; there is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. ⁹All this I observed while applying my mind to all that is done under the sun,…