Ecclesiastes 7
7
A Collection of Wise Teachings
1A good reputation is better than expensive pleasures.#7:1 A good reputation … pleasures Literally, “better a name than good perfume.” This is a wordplay in Hebrew. The word for “name” and the word for “perfume” sound alike.
The day someone dies is better than the day they were born.
2It is better to go to a funeral than to a party,
because everyone must die,
and the living need to remember this.
3Sorrow is even better than laughter,
because when our face is sad, our heart becomes good.
4A wise person thinks about death,
but a fool thinks only about having a good time.
5It is better to be criticized by the wise
than praised by the foolish.
6The laughter of fools is such a waste.
It is like thorns burning under a pot.
The thorns burn so quickly
that the pot does not get hot.#7:6 Or “The cackling of fools, like the crackling of thorns under a pot, is senseless.”
7Even the wise will forget their wisdom,
if someone pays them enough.
That money destroys their understanding.
8It is better to finish something
than to start it.
It is better to be gentle and patient
than to be proud and impatient.
9Don’t become angry quickly,
because anger is foolish.
10Don’t say, “Life was better in the ‘good old days.’
What happened?”
Wisdom does not lead us to ask that question.
11Wisdom is better if you also have property. Wise people#7:11 Wise people Literally, “People who see the sun.” This means wise people can see and plan what they should do. will get more than enough wealth. 12Wisdom and money can protect you. But knowledge gained through wisdom is even better—it can save your life.
13Look at what God has made. You cannot change a thing, even if you think it is wrong. 14When life is good, enjoy it. But when life is hard, remember that God gives us good times and hard times. And no one knows what will happen in the future.
People Cannot Really Be Good
15In my short life, I have seen everything. I have seen good people die young, and I have seen evil people live long lives. 16-17So why ruin your life? Don’t be too good or too bad, and don’t be too wise or too foolish. Why should you die before your time?
18Try to be a little of this and a little of that.#7:18 Try … of that Or “Hold onto this, but don’t let go of that.” Even God’s followers will do some good things and some bad things. 19-20Surely there is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. But wisdom can make one person stronger than ten leaders in a city.
21Don’t listen to everything people say. You might hear your own servant saying bad things about you. 22And you know that many times you too have said bad things about other people.
23I used my wisdom and thought about all these things. I wanted to be wise, but I couldn’t do it. 24I cannot understand why things are as they are. It is too hard for anyone to understand. 25I studied and I tried very hard to find true wisdom. I tried to find a reason for everything.
I did learn that it is foolish to be evil, and it is crazy to act like a fool. 26I also found that some women are dangerous like traps. Their hearts are like nets, and their arms are like chains. It is worse than death to be caught by these women. God’s followers should run away from them. Let the sinners be caught by them.
27-28The Teacher says, “I added all this together to see what answer I could find. I am still looking for answers, but I did find this: I found one good man in a thousand. But I did not find even one good woman.
29“There is one other thing I have learned. God made people good, but they have found many ways to be bad.”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Ecclesiastes 7
7
1What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun?
2A good name is better than precious ointments: and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
3It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the living thinketh what is to come.
4Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.
5The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth.
6It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by the flattery of fools.
7For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity.
8Oppression troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the strength of his heart.
9Better is the end of a speech than the beginning. Better is the patient man than the presumptuous.
10Be not quickly angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of a fool.
11Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former times were better than they are now? for this manner of question is foolish.
12Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun.
13For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence: but learning and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth them.
14Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom he hath despised.
15In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may not find against him any just complaint.
16These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his wickedness.
17Be not over just: and be not more wise than is necessary, lest thou become stupid.
18Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die before thy time.
19It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and from him withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing.
20Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes of the city.
21For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not.
22But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.
23For thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often spoken evil of others.
24I have tried all things in wisdom. I have said: I will be wise: and it departed farther from me,
25Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall find it out?
26I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and consider, and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the wickedness of the fool, and the error of the imprudent:
27And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are bands. He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall be caught by her.
28Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after another, that I might find out the account,
29Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found.
30Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise man? and who hath known the resolution of the word?
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.