Ecclesiastes 7

People Generally Do Not Know What is Best for Them

¹A good name is better than precious ointment,

²Better to go to the house of mourning

for death is the end of every person,

³Sorrow is better than laughter,

⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

⁵Better to listen to the rebuke of the wise

⁶Like the sound of thorns under a pot,

This also is vanity!

Wisdom—Although Vulnerable—is Beneficial

⁷Surely oppression makes a fool of the wise,

⁸The end of a matter is better than its beginning;

⁹Do not be quick in your spirit to anger,

¹⁰Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance;

¹²For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection.[#Literally “For in the shade of wisdom is the shade of money”]

Humans Must Accept God’s Will and Make the Best of It

¹³Consider the work of God.

¹⁴In the day of prosperity, rejoice!

For God made one in place of another

The Law of Retribution Does Not Always Work—but It Does Sometimes

¹⁵I have seen all these things in my vain life:

¹⁶Do not be excessively righteous,[#Or “abundantly”]

¹⁷Do not act excessively wicked,

¹⁸It is good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other;

Wisdom is Valuable, but No One is Completely Righteous

¹⁹Wisdom gives more strength to the wise

²⁰Surely there is no one righteous on the earth

²¹Do not pay attention to everything people say,

²²For your heart knows

Absolute Wisdom is Unattainable

²³All this I have tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise!” but it was beyond my grasp.[#Literally “it was far from me”]

²⁴Whatever is—it is far beyond comprehension. Who can discover it?[#Literally “That which is—it is far and deep deep”]

²⁵I set my mind to try to seek wisdom and the plan, and to know that wickedness is foolishness and that folly is delusion.

²⁶I myself found that more bitter than death is the woman who is a trap, whose heart is a snare, and whose hands are bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

²⁷“Look! I found this,” said the Teacher, “while trying to find how the plan fits together.[#Hebrew “Qohelet”]

²⁸What my heart sought, I did not find. Although I found one righteous man among one thousand, I did not find one upright woman among all these.

²⁹Look! This alone I found: God made mankind upright, but they have devised many schemes.”