EcclesiastesChapter 7

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¹A good name is better than fine perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you were born. ²It is better to go to a house where people are mourning than to a house where people are feasting. For death is the end of every person. The living should take this to heart. ³Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad face is good for the heart. ⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning. But the heart of fools is in the house of fun. ⁵It is better to listen when a wise man corrects you than to listen to the song of fools. ⁶The laughter of a fool is like thorns crackling in a fire under a pot. This too is pointless. ⁷Cheating others turns a wise man into a fool. And a bribe ruins the heart. ⁸The end of something is better than its beginning. And a patient spirit is better than a proud one. ⁹Do not let your spirit get angry quickly. For anger lives in the lap of fools. ¹⁰Do not say, "Why were the old days better than today?" It is not wise to ask this. ¹¹Wisdom is good, like an inheritance. It helps those who see the sun. ¹²For wisdom is a shelter, just like money is. And here is the advantage of knowledge: wisdom keeps alive the one who has it. ¹³Think about the work of God. Who can make straight what he has bent? ¹⁴When times are good, be happy. But when times are hard, think about this. God has made both the good and the bad. So no one can find out anything about what will come after him. ¹⁵In my pointless life I have seen both of these. I have seen a righteous man perish in his righteousness. And I have seen a wicked man live a long time in his wickedness. ¹⁶Do not be too righteous. Do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷Do not be too wicked. Do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? ¹⁸It is good to hold on to the one warning. Do not let go of the other. The one who fears God will follow both of them. ¹⁹Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city. ²⁰There is surely no righteous man on earth who always does good and never sins. ²¹Do not pay attention to every word people say. If you do, you may hear your servant cursing you. ²²You know in your heart that you have cursed others many times yourself. ²³I tested all this with wisdom. I said, "I am going to be wise." But it was too far from me. ²⁴What is here is far away and very deep. Who can figure it out? ²⁵I turned my mind to understand, to explore, and to search for wisdom and reasons. I wanted to understand how stupid evil is. I wanted to understand how foolish madness is. ²⁶I found something more bitter than death. It is the woman who is a trap. Her heart is a net, and her hands are chains. The man who pleases God gets away from her. But the sinner is caught by her. ²⁷"Look," says the Teacher, "this is what I have found. I added one thing to another to find the answer. ²⁸My soul kept searching, but I did not find it. I found one upright man among a thousand. But I did not find one such woman among them all. ²⁹This is the only thing I found. God made people upright. But they have gone looking for many schemes."