Ecclesiastes 5:6-7:16
New King James Version
6 Do not let your (A)mouth cause your flesh to sin, (B)nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your [a]excuse and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But (C)fear God.
The Vanity of Gain and Honor
8 If you (D)see the oppression of the poor, and the violent [b]perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for (E)high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them.
9 Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field.
10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver;
Nor he who loves abundance, with increase.
This also is vanity.
11 When goods increase,
They increase who eat them;
So what profit have the owners
Except to see them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or much;
But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.
13 (F)There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun:
Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
14 But those riches perish through [c]misfortune;
When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15 (G)As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return,
To go as he came;
And he shall take nothing from his labor
Which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a severe evil—
Just exactly as he came, so shall he go.
And (H)what profit has he (I)who has labored for the wind?
17 All his days (J)he also eats in darkness,
And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.
18 Here is what I have seen: (K)It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; (L)for it is his [d]heritage. 19 As for (M)every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his [e]heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the (N)gift of God. 20 For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.
Wealth Is Not the Goal of Life
6 There(O) is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2 A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, (P)so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; (Q)yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil [f]affliction.
3 If 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 (R)indeed he has no burial, I say that (S)a [g]stillborn child is better than he— 4 for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one (T)place?
7 (U)All the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet the soul is not satisfied.
8 For what more has the wise man than the fool?
What does the poor man have,
Who knows how to walk before the living?
9 Better is [h]the (V)sight of the eyes than the wandering of [i]desire.
This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
10 Whatever one is, he has been named (W)already,
For it is known that he is man;
(X)And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
11 Since there are many things that increase vanity,
How is man the better?
12 For who knows what is good for man in life, [j]all the days of his [k]vain life which he passes like (Y)a shadow? (Z)Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?
The Value of Practical Wisdom
7 A (AA)good name is better than precious ointment,
And the day of death than the day of one’s (AB)birth;
2 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 (AC)heart.
3 [l]Sorrow is better than laughter,
(AD)For by a sad countenance the heart is made [m]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 (AE)It is better to [n]hear the rebuke of the wise
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
6 (AF)For like the [o]crackling of thorns under a pot,
So is the laughter of the fool.
This also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason,
(AG)And a bribe [p]debases the heart.
8 The end of a thing is better than its beginning;
(AH)The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 (AI)Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry,
For anger rests in the bosom of fools.
10 Do not say,
“Why were the former days better than these?”
For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
And profitable (AJ)to those who see the sun.
12 For wisdom is [q]a (AK)defense as money is a defense,
But the [r]excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives (AL)life to those who have it.
13 Consider the work of God;
For (AM)who can make straight what He has made crooked?
14 (AN)In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one [s]as 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:
(AO)There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,
And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 5:6 Lit. voice
- Ecclesiastes 5:8 wresting
- Ecclesiastes 5:14 Lit. bad business
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 Lit. portion
- Ecclesiastes 5:19 Lit. portion
- Ecclesiastes 6:2 disease
- Ecclesiastes 6:3 Or miscarriage
- Ecclesiastes 6:9 What the eyes see
- Ecclesiastes 6:9 Lit. soul
- Ecclesiastes 6:12 Lit. the number of the days
- Ecclesiastes 6:12 futile
- Ecclesiastes 7:3 Vexation or Grief
- Ecclesiastes 7:3 well or pleasing
- Ecclesiastes 7:5 listen to
- Ecclesiastes 7:6 Lit. sound
- Ecclesiastes 7:7 destroys
- Ecclesiastes 7:12 A protective shade, lit. shadow
- Ecclesiastes 7:12 advantage or profit
- Ecclesiastes 7:14 alongside
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Bible Gateway Recommends
