Ecclesiastes 6-8

New King James Version

Wealth Is Not the Goal of Life

6 There^(A) is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: ²A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, ^(B)so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; ^(C)yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil ^[a]affliction.

³If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or ^(D)indeed he has no burial, I say that ^(E)a ^[b]stillborn child is better than he— ⁴for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. ⁵Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, ⁶even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one ^(F)place?

⁷^(G)All the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet the soul is not satisfied.
⁸For what more has the wise man than the fool?
What does the poor man have,
Who knows how to walk before the living?
⁹Better is ^[c]the ^(H)sight of the eyes than the wandering of ^[d]desire.
This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁰Whatever one is, he has been named ^(I)already,
For it is known that he is man;
^(J)And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
¹¹Since there are many things that increase vanity,
How is man the better?

¹²For who knows what is good for man in life, ^[e]all the days of his ^[f]vain life which he passes like ^(K)a shadow? ^(L)Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?

The Value of Practical Wisdom

7 A ^(M)good name is better than precious ointment,
And the day of death than the day of one’s ^(N)birth;
²Better 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 ^(O)heart.
³^[g]Sorrow is better than laughter,
^(P)For by a sad countenance the heart is made ^[h]better.
⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

⁵^(Q)It is better to ^[i]hear the rebuke of the wise
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
⁶^(R)For like the ^[j]crackling of thorns under a pot,
So is the laughter of the fool.
This also is vanity.
⁷Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason,
^(S)And a bribe ^[k]debases the heart.

⁸The end of a thing is better than its beginning;
^(T)The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
⁹^(U)Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry,
For anger rests in the bosom of fools.
¹⁰Do not say,
“Why were the former days better than these?”
For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
And profitable ^(V)to those who see the sun.
¹²For wisdom is ^[l]a ^(W)defense as money is a defense,
But the ^[m]excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives ^(X)life to those who have it.

¹³Consider the work of God;
For ^(Y)who can make straight what He has made crooked?
¹⁴^(Z)In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one ^[n]as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything in my days of vanity:

^(AA)There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,
And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.

¹⁶^(AB)Do not be overly righteous,
^(AC)Nor be overly wise:
Why should you destroy yourself?
¹⁷Do not be overly wicked,
Nor be foolish:
^(AD)Why should you die before your time?
¹⁸It is good that you grasp this,
And also not remove your hand from the other;
For he who ^(AE)fears God will ^[o]escape them all.

¹⁹^(AF)Wisdom strengthens the wise
More than ten rulers of the city.

²⁰^(AG)For there is not a just man on earth who does good
And does not sin.

²¹Also do not take to heart everything people say,
Lest you hear your servant cursing you.
²²For many times, also, your own heart has known
That even you have cursed others.

²³All this I have ^[p]proved by wisdom.
^(AH)I said, “I will be wise”;
But it was far from me.
²⁴^(AI)As for that which is far off and ^(AJ)exceedingly deep,
Who can find it out?
²⁵^(AK)I 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.
²⁶^(AL)And I find more bitter than death
The woman whose heart is snares and nets,
Whose hands are fetters.
^[q]He who pleases God shall escape from her,
But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

²⁷“Here is what I have found,” says ^(AM)the Preacher,
“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,
²⁸Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:
^(AN)One man among a thousand I have found,
But a woman among all these I have not found.
²⁹Truly, this only I have found:
^(AO)That God made man upright,
But ^(AP)they have sought out many schemes.”

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

8 Who is like a wise man?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
^(AQ)A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
And ^(AR)the ^[r]sternness of his face is changed.

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

²I say, “Keep the king’s commandment ^(AS)for the sake of your oath to God. ³^(AT)Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.”

⁴Where the word of a king is, there is power;
And ^(AU)who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
⁵He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
And a wise man’s heart ^[s]discerns both time and judgment,
⁶Because ^(AV)for every matter there is a time and judgment,
Though the misery of man ^[t]increases greatly.
⁷^(AW)For he does not know what will happen;
So who can tell him when it will occur?
⁸^(AX)No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.
There is ^(AY)no release from that war,
And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

⁹All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

Death Comes to All

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were ^(AZ)forgotten^[u] in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. ¹¹^(BA)Because the 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^(BB)Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that ^(BC)it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. ¹³But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it ^(BD)happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the ^(BE)righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁵^(BF)So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that ^(BG)a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.