CHAPTERS 7-12
ECCLESIASTES#7
1 ¶ A good name is better than precious ointment; and the
day of death than the day of one's birth.
2 It is 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 lay it to his heart.
3 Sorrow is
better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made
better.
4 The heart of
the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of
mirth.
5 It is better to
hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song
of fools.
6 For as the
crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is
vanity.
7 ¶ Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift
destroyeth the heart.
8 Better is the end
of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than
the proud in spirit.
9 Be not hasty in
thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
10 Say not thou,
What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost
not enquire wisely concerning this.
11 ¶ Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there
is profit to them that see the sun.
12 For wisdom is
a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that
wisdom giveth life to them that have it.
13 Consider the
work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?
14 In the day of
prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider:
God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should
find nothing after him.
15 All things
have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his
righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his
wickedness.
16 Be not
righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy
thyself?
17 Be not over
much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
18 It is good
that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this
withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.
19 Wisdom
strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
20 For there is
not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
21 Also take no
heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:
22 For oftentimes
also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.
23 ¶ All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be
wise; but it was far from me.
24 That which is
far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
25 I applied mine
heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the
reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and
madness:
26 And I find
more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands
as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be
taken by her.
27 Behold, this
have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:
28 Which yet my
soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a
woman among all those have I not found.
29 Lo, this only
have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have
sought out many inventions.
1 ¶ Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the
interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the
boldness of his face shall be changed.
2 I counsel thee
to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath
of God.
3 Be not hasty to
go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever
pleaseth him.
4 Where the word
of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
5 Whoso keepeth
the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth
both time and judgment.
6 ¶ Because to every purpose there is time and judgment,
therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knoweth
not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall
be?
8 There is no man
that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in
the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall
wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
9 ¶ All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every
work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth
over another to his own hurt.
10 And so I saw
the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they
were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
11 Because
sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of
the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Though a
sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged,
yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear
before him:
13 But it shall
not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a
shadow; because he feareth not before God.
14 ¶ There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that
there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of
the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the
work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
15 Then I
commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat,
and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the
days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
16 When I applied
mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth:
(for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
17 Then I beheld
all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the
sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall
not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not
be able to find it.
1 ¶ For all this I considered in my heart even to declare
all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of
God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
2 All things come
alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the
good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him
that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth,
as he that feareth an oath.
3 This is an evil
among all things that are done under the sun, that there is
one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and
madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
4 ¶ For to him that is joined to all the living there is
hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living
know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing,
neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their
love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any
more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
7 Go thy way, eat
thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now
accepteth thy works.
8 Let thy
garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
9 Live joyfully
with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he
hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy
portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
10 Whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
11 ¶ I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is
not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise,
nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but
time and chance happeneth to them all.
12 For man also
knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the
birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil
time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
13 ¶ This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it
seemed great unto me:
14 There was a
little city, and few men within it; and there came a great
king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:
15 Now there was
found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no
man remembered that same poor man.
16 Then said I,
Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised,
and his words are not heard.
17 The words of
wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.
18 Wisdom is
better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
1 ¶ Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary
to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation
for wisdom and honour.
2 A wise man's
heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left.
3 Yea also, when
he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to
every one that he is a fool.
4 ¶ If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great
offences.
5 There is an
evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the
ruler:
6 Folly is set in
great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
7 I have seen
servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the
earth.
8 He that diggeth
a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite
him.
9 Whoso removeth
stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered
thereby.
10 If the iron be
blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more
strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
11 Surely the
serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
12 ¶ The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but
the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
13 The beginning
of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his
talk is mischievous madness.
14 A fool also is
full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him,
who can tell him?
15 The labour of
the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the
city.
16 ¶ Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and
thy princes eat in the morning!
17 Blessed art
thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due
season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
18 By much
slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of
the hands the house droppeth through.
19 A feast is
made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.
20 Curse not the
king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a
bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath
wings shall tell the matter.
1 ¶ Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find
it after many days.
2 Give a portion
to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
3 If the clouds
be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall
toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth,
there it shall be.
4 He that
observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not
reap.
5 As thou knowest
not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her
that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
6 In the morning
sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not
whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they
both shall be alike good.
7 ¶ Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is
for the eyes to behold the sun:
8 But if a man
live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of
darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.
9 Rejoice, O
young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the
days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of
thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into
judgment.
10 Therefore
remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood
and youth are vanity.
1 ¶ Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth,
while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I
have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun,
or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return
after the rain:
3 In the day when
the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men
shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those
that look out of the windows be darkened,
4 And the doors
shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he
shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall
be brought low;
5 Also when they
shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the
almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire
shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the
streets:
6 Or ever the
silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the
pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the
dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who
gave it.
8 ¶ Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is
vanity.
9 And moreover,
because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people
knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many
proverbs.
10 The preacher
sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright,
even words of truth.
11 The words of
the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies,
which are given from one shepherd.
12 And further,
by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much
study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 ¶ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear
God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall
bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether it be good, or whether it be evil.