Ecclesiastes 7
7
Thoughts about Life
1 #
Prov 22.1
A good reputation is better than expensive perfume; and the day you die is better than the day you are born.
2It is better to go to a home where there is mourning than to one where there is a party, because the living should always remind themselves that death is waiting for us all.
3Sorrow is better than laughter; it may sadden your face, but it sharpens your understanding.
4Someone who is always thinking about happiness is a fool. A wise person thinks about death.
5It is better to have wise people reprimand you than to have stupid people sing your praises.
6When a fool laughs, it is like thorns crackling in a fire. It doesn't mean a thing.
7You may be wise, but if you cheat someone, you are acting like a fool. If you take a bribe, you ruin your character.
8The end of anything is better than its beginning.
Patience is better than pride.
9 #
Jas 1.19
Keep your temper under control; it is foolish to harbour a grudge.
10Never ask, “Oh, why were things so much better in the old days?” It's not an intelligent question.
11Everyone who lives ought to be wise; it is as good as receiving an inheritance 12and will give you as much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe — this is the advantage of knowledge.
13Think about what God has done. How can anyone straighten out what God has made crooked? 14When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next.#7.14 you… next; or you cannot find fault with him.
15My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. Some good people may die while others live on, even though they are evil. 16So don't be too good or too wise — why kill yourself? 17But don't be too wicked or too foolish, either — why die before you have to? 18Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be successful anyway.
19Wisdom does more for a person than ten rulers can do for a city.
20There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.
21Don't pay attention to everything people say — you may hear your servant insulting you, 22and you know yourself that you have insulted other people many times.
23I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me. 24How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand. 25But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is.
26I found something more bitter than death — the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net; and her arms round you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner. 27Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers. 28I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman. 29This is all that I have learnt: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Ecclesiastes 7
7
Wise Sayings
1A good name is better than fine perfume, # Pr 22:1; Ezk 36:21
and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth. # Ec 4:2
2It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
since that is the end of all mankind,
and the living should take it to heart. # Ps 90:12
3Grief is better than laughter,
for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. # Pr 14:13
4The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.
5It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools, # Pr 13:1
6for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, # Ps 58:9; 118:12
so is the laughter of the fool.
This too is futile.
7Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, # Ec 4:1
and a bribe destroys the mind. # Dt 16:19; Pr 17:8
8The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit. # Pr 14:29
9Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry,
for anger abides in the heart of fools. # Pr 14:17; Jms 1:19
10Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these? ” # Jdg 6:13
since it is not wise of you to ask this.
11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
and an advantage to those who see the sun,
12because wisdom is protection as money is protection,
and the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner. # Pr 3:18
13Consider the work of God, # Ec 3:11
for who can straighten out
what He has made crooked? # Ec 1:15
14In the day of prosperity be joyful, # Ec 3:22 but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, # Lm 3:38 so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.
Avoiding Extremes
15In my futile life # Lit days I have seen everything: # Ec 6:12; 9:9 there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, # Ec 8:14 and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil. # Ec 8:12-13 16Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. # Ec 2:15; Rm 12:3 Why should you destroy yourself? 17Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time? # Jb 22:16; Ps 55:23; Pr 10:27 18It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.
19Wisdom makes the wise man stronger
than ten rulers of a city. # Ec 9:13-18
20There is certainly no righteous man on the earth
who does good and never sins. # 1Kg 8:46; Rm 3:23
21Don’t pay attention # Lit Don’t give your heart to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, # Pr 30:10 22for you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.
What the Teacher Found
23I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. 24What exists is beyond reach and very deep. # Rm 11:33 Who can discover it? 25I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom # Ec 1:15,17 and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26And I find more bitter than death # Pr 5:4 the woman who is a trap, # Pr 6:25 her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27“Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman. # 1Kg 11:3 29Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, # Gn 1:27 but they pursued many schemes.”
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