Ecclesiastes 7

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The Value of Practical Wisdom

A ^agood name is better than precious ointment,

And the day of death than the day of one’s ^bbirth;

Better 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 ^aheart.

¹Sorrow is better than laughter,

^aFor by a sad countenance the heart is made ²better.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

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

^aIt is better to ¹hear the rebuke of the wise

Than for a man to hear the song of fools.

^aFor like the ¹crackling of thorns under a pot,

So is the laughter of the fool.

This also is vanity.

Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason,

^aAnd a bribe ¹debases the heart.

The end of a thing is better than its beginning;

^aThe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

^aDo not hasten in your spirit to be angry,

For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Do not say,

“Why were the former days better than these?”

For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

And profitable ^ato those who see the sun.

For wisdom is ¹a ^adefense as money is a defense,

But the ²excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives ^blife to those who have it.

Consider the work of God;

For ^awho can make straight what He has made crooked?

^aIn the day of prosperity be joyful,

But in the day of adversity consider:

Surely God has appointed the one ¹as well as the other,

So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

15 I have seen everything in my days of vanity:

^aThere is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,

And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.

^aDo not be overly righteous,

^bNor be overly wise:

Why should you destroy yourself?

Do not be overly wicked,

Nor be foolish:

^aWhy should you die before your time?

It is good that you grasp this,

And also not remove your hand from the other;

For he who ^afears God will ¹escape them all.

^aWisdom strengthens the wise

More than ten rulers of the city.

^aFor there is not a just man on earth who does good

And does not sin.

Also do not take to heart everything people say,

Lest you hear your servant cursing you.

For many times, also, your own heart has known

That even you have cursed others.

All this I have ¹proved by wisdom.

^aI said, “I will be wise”;

But it was far from me.

^aAs for that which is far off and ^bexceedingly deep,

Who can find it out?

^aI 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.

^aAnd I find more bitter than death

The woman whose heart is snares and nets,

Whose hands are fetters.

¹He who pleases God shall escape from her,

But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

“Here is what I have found,” says ^athe Preacher,

“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,

Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:

^aOne man among a thousand I have found,

But a woman among all these I have not found.

Truly, this only I have found:

^aThat God made man upright,

But ^bthey have sought out many schemes.”

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