Ecclesiastes 7-8

Common English Bible

Wisdom is better than wealth

7 A good name is better than fine oil,
    and the day of death better than the birthday.
²It is better to go to a house in mourning
    than to a house party,
    because that is everyone’s destiny;
    and the living should take it to heart.
³Aggravation is better than merriment
    because a sad face may lead to a glad heart.
⁴The wise heart is in the house that mourns,
    but the foolish heart is in the house that rejoices.
⁵It is better to obey the reprimand of the wise
    than to listen to the song of fools,
⁶    because the fool’s merriment
    is like nettles crackling under a kettle.
        That too is pointless.
⁷Oppression turns the wise into fools;
    a bribe corrupts the heart.
⁸The end of something is better than its beginning.
    Patience is better than arrogance.
⁹Don’t be too quick to get angry
    because anger lives in the fool’s heart.
¹⁰Don’t ask, “How is it that the former days were better than these?”
    because it isn’t wise to ask this.
¹¹Wisdom is as good as^[a] an inheritance—
    an advantage for those who see the sun.
¹²Wisdom’s protection is like the protection of money;
    the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.

Good times and bad

¹³Consider God’s work! Who can straighten what God has made crooked? ¹⁴When times are good, enjoy the good; when times are bad, consider: God has made the former as well as the latter so that people can’t discover anything that will come to be after them.

¹⁵I have seen everything in my pointless lifetime: the righteous person may die in spite of their righteousness; then again, the wicked may live long in spite of their wickedness. ¹⁶Don’t be too righteous or too wise, or you may be dumbfounded.^[b] ¹⁷Don’t be too wicked and don’t be a fool, or you may die before your time. ¹⁸It’s good that you take hold of one of these without letting go of the other because the one who fears God will go forth with both.

¹⁹Wisdom makes a wise person stronger than ten rulers who are in a city. ²⁰Remember: there’s no one on earth so righteous as to do good only and never make a mistake.^[c] ²¹Don’t worry about all the things people say, so you don’t hear your servant cursing you. ²²After all, you know that you’ve often cursed others yourself!

Life is complicated

²³I tested all of this by wisdom. I thought, I will be wise, but it eluded me.

²⁴All that happens is elusive and utterly unfathomable. Who can grasp it? ²⁵I turned my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, along with an account of things, to know that wickedness is foolishness and folly is madness.

²⁶I found one woman more bitter than death: she who is a trap, her heart a snare, her hands shackles. Anyone who pleases God escapes her, but a sinner is trapped by her. ²⁷See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, examining one matter after another to account for things. ²⁸But there’s something that I constantly searched for but couldn’t find: I found one man among a thousand, but I couldn’t find a woman among any of these.^[d]

²⁹See, this alone I found: God made human beings straightforward, but they search for many complications.

8 Who is wise? And who knows the meaning of anything?
A person’s wisdom brightens the expression;
it changes the hardness of someone’s face.

Watch out for power

²Keep^[e] the king’s command
    as you would keep a solemn pledge.
³Don’t be dismayed; leave his presence.
    Don’t linger in a harmful situation
    because he can do whatever he wants!
⁴Because the king’s word has authority,
    no one can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵Whoever keeps a command will meet no harm, and the wise heart knows the right time and the right way ⁶because there’s a right time and right way for every matter. But human misfortunes are overwhelming ⁷because no one knows what will happen, and no one can say when something might happen. ⁸No one has control over the life-breath,^[f] to retain it, and there’s no control over the day of death. There’s no release from war, and wickedness won’t deliver those who practice it.

⁹I observed all of this as I paid attention to all that happens under the sun. Sometimes people exercise power over each other to their detriment. ¹⁰Then I saw the wicked brought to their graves, with people processing from a holy place,^[g] while those who had lived honestly were neglected in the city. This too is pointless.

¹¹The condemnation for wicked acts isn’t carried out quickly; that’s why people dare to do evil. ¹²Wrongdoers may commit a hundred crimes but still live long lives. But I also know that it will go well for those who fear God, for those who are reverent before God. ¹³But it will not go well for the wicked; they won’t live long at all because they aren’t reverent before God. ¹⁴Here’s another thing that happens on earth that is pointless: the righteous get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get what the righteous deserve. I say that this too is pointless.

Enjoy life

¹⁵So I commend enjoyment because there’s nothing better for people to do under the sun but to eat, drink, and be glad. This is what will accompany them in their hard work, during the lifetime that God gives under the sun.

¹⁶Then I set my mind to know wisdom and to observe the business that happens on earth, even going without sleep day and night ¹⁷I observed all the work of God—that no one can grasp what happens under the sun. Those who strive to know can’t grasp it. Even the wise who are set on knowing are unable to grasp it.