Ecclesiastes 6–8

¹There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is great on man: ²A man to whom God giveth wealth, and riches, and honour, and there is no lack to his soul of all that he desireth, and God giveth him not power to eat of it, but a stranger eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. ³If a man doth beget a hundred, and live many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he hath not had a grave, I have said, ‘Better than he is the untimely birth.’ ⁴For in vanity he came in, and in darkness he goeth, and in darkness his name is covered, ⁵Even the sun he hath not seen nor known, more rest hath this than that. ⁶And though he had lived a thousand years twice over, yet good he hath not seen; to the same place doth not every one go?

⁷All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the soul is not filled. ⁸For what advantage is to the wise above the fool? What to the poor who knoweth to walk before the living? ⁹Better is the sight of the eyes than the going of the soul. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit. ¹⁰What is that which hath been? already is its name called, and it is known that it is man, and he is not able to contend with him who is stronger than he.

¹¹For there are many things multiplying vanity; what advantage is to man? ¹²For who knoweth what is good for a man in life, the number of the days of the life of his vanity, and he maketh them as a shadow? for who declareth to man what is after him under the sun?

Chapter 7

¹Better is a name than good perfume, And the day of death than the day of birth. ²Better to go unto a house of mourning, Than to go unto a house of banqueting, For that is the end of all men, And the living layeth it unto his heart. ³Better is sorrow than laughter, For by the sadness of the face the heart becometh better. ⁴The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, And the heart of fools in a house of mirth. ⁵Better to hear a rebuke of a wise man, Than for a man to hear a song of fools, ⁶For as the noise of thorns under the pot, So is the laughter of a fool, even this is vanity.

⁷Surely oppression maketh the wise mad, And a gift destroyeth the heart. ⁸Better is the latter end of a thing than its beginning, Better is the patient of spirit, than the haughty of spirit. ⁹Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, For anger in the bosom of fools resteth. ¹⁰Say not thou, ‘What was it, That the former days were better than these?’ For thou hast not asked wisely of this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance, And an advantage it is to those beholding the sun. ¹²For wisdom is a defense, money is a defence, And the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom is, She reviveth her possessors. ¹³See the work of God, For who is able to make straight that which He made crooked? ¹⁴In a day of prosperity be in gladness, And in a day of evil consider. Also this over-against that hath God made, To the intent that man doth not find anything after him. ¹⁵The whole I have considered in the days of my vanity. There is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wrong-doer prolonging himself in his wrong. ¹⁶Be not over-righteous, nor show thyself too wise, why art thou desolate? ¹⁷Do not much wrong, neither be thou a fool, why dost thou die within thy time? ¹⁸It is good that thou dost lay hold on this, and also, from that withdrawest not thy hand, for whoso is fearing God goeth out with them all. ¹⁹The wisdom giveth strength to a wise man, more than wealth the rulers who have been in a city. ²⁰Because there is not a righteous man on earth that doth good and sinneth not. ²¹Also to all the words that they speak give not thy heart, that thou hear not thy servant reviling thee. ²²For many times also hath thy heart known that thou thyself also hast reviled others.

²³All this I have tried by wisdom; I have said, ‘I am wise,’ and it is far from me. ²⁴Far off is that which hath been, and deep, deep, who doth find it? ²⁵I have turned round, also my heart, to know and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and reason, and to know the wrong of folly, and of foolishness the madness. ²⁶And I am finding more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is nets and snares, her hands are bands; the good before God escapeth from her, but the sinner is captured by her. ²⁷See, this I have found, said the Preacher, one to one, to find out the reason ²⁸(that still my soul had sought, and I had not found), One man, a teacher, I have found, and a woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they—they have sought out many devices.

Chapter 8

¹Who is as the wise? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causeth his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. ²I pray thee, the commandment of a king keep, even for the sake of the oath of God. ³Be not troubled at his presence, thou mayest go, stand not in an evil thing, for all that he pleaseth he doth. ⁴Where the word of a king is power is, and who saith to him, ‘What dost thou?’ ⁵Whoso is keeping a command knoweth no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knoweth.

⁶For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great upon him. ⁷For he knoweth not that which shall be, for when it shall be who declareth to him? ⁸There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness delivereth not its possessors.

⁹All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil. ¹⁰And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This also is vanity. ¹¹Because sentence hath not been done on an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner is doing evil a hundred times, and prolonging himself for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him. ¹³And good is not to the wicked, and he doth not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to him under the sun. ¹⁶When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that hath been done on the earth, (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night), ¹⁷then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that hath been done under the sun, because though man labour to seek, yet he doth not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.

Chapter 9