¹⁹ And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(A) Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven^(A) is first of all pure; then peace-loving,^(B) considerate, submissive, full of mercy^(C) and good fruit, impartial and sincere.^(D)

²² So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,^(A) because that is their lot.^(B) For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above,^(A) coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights,^(B) who does not change^(C) like shifting shadows.

⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world^(A) are more shrewd^(B) in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.^(C)

Wisdom Better Than Folly

¹³ I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom^(A) that greatly impressed me:

⁹ When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields^(A) Solomon had made. ¹⁰ So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.

¹³ The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God,^(A) to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.^(B)

¹⁶ When all Israel^(C) saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

So all the Israelites went home.

²⁵ In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked^(A) Jerusalem. ²⁶ He carried off the treasures of the temple^(B) of the Lord and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields^(C) Solomon had made. ²⁷ So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.^{(D) 28} Whenever the king went to the Lord’s temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom.