Ecclesiastes 4-7

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

4 Then I returned and considered all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun: And I beheld the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they [too] had no comforter.

² So I praised and thought more fortunate those who have been long dead than the living, who are still alive.

³ But better than them both [I thought] is he who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

⁴ Then I saw that all painful effort in labor and all skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This is also vanity, a vain striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

⁵ The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh [destroying himself by indolence].

⁶ Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with painful effort, a vain striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

⁷ Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun [in one of its peculiar forms].

⁸ Here is one alone—no one with him; he neither has child nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labor, neither is his eye satisfied with riches, neither does he ask, For whom do I labor and deprive myself of good? This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility); yes, it is a painful effort and an unhappy business.^(A)

⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labor;

¹⁰ For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

¹¹ Again, if two lie down together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?

¹² And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³ Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who ^[a]no longer knows how to receive counsel (friendly reproof and warning)—

¹⁴ Even though [the youth] comes out of prison to reign, while the other, born a king, becomes needy.

¹⁵ I saw all the living who walk under the sun with the youth who was to stand up in the king’s stead.

¹⁶ There was no end to all the people; he was over all of them. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory) and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

5 Keep your foot [give your mind to what you are doing] when you go [as Jacob to sacred Bethel] to the house of God. For to draw near to hear and obey is better than to give the sacrifice of fools [carelessly, irreverently] too ignorant to know that they are doing evil.^(B)

² Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

³ For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool’s voice with many words.

⁴ When you vow a vow or make a pledge to God, do not put off paying it; for God has no pleasure in fools (those who witlessly mock Him). Pay what you vow.^(C)

⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.^(D)

⁶ Do not allow your mouth to cause your body to sin, and do not say before the messenger [the priest] that it was an error or mistake. Why should God be [made] angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?^(E)

⁷ For in a multitude of dreams there is futility and worthlessness, and ruin in a flood of words. But [reverently] fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is].

⁸ If you see the oppression of the poor and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in the state or province, do not marvel at the matter. [Be sure that there are those who will attend to it] for a higher [official] than the high is observing, and higher ones are over them.

⁹ Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the field and in all, a king is an advantage to a land with cultivated fields.

¹⁰ He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with gain. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

¹¹ When goods increase, they who eat them increase also. And what gain is there to their owner except to see them with his eyes?

¹² The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the fullness of the rich will not let him sleep.

¹³ There is a serious and severe evil which I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt.

¹⁴ But those riches are lost in a bad venture; and he becomes the father of a son, and there is nothing in his hand [with which to support the child].

¹⁵ As [the man] came forth from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; and he will take away nothing for all his labor which he can carry in his hand.

¹⁶ And this also is a serious and severe evil—that in all points as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he who labors for the wind?^(F)

¹⁷ All his days also he eats in darkness [cheerlessly, with no sweetness and light in them], and much sorrow and sickness and wrath are his.

¹⁸ Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is for one to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in all the labor in which he labors under the sun all the days which God gives him—for this is his [allotted] part.^(G)

¹⁹ Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, and the power to enjoy them and to accept his appointed lot and to rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God [to him].

²⁰ For he shall not much remember [seriously] the days of his life, because God [Himself] answers and corresponds to the joy of his heart [the tranquillity of God is mirrored in him].

6 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavily upon men:

² A man to whom God has given riches, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he might desire, yet God does not give him the power or capacity to enjoy them [things which are gifts from God], but a stranger [in whom he has no interest succeeds him and] consumes and enjoys them. This is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility); it is a sore affliction!^(H)

³ If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his life is not filled with good, and also he is given no burial [honors nor is laid to rest in the sepulcher of his fathers], I say that [he who had] an untimely birth [resulting in death] is better off than he,^(I)

⁴ For [the untimely one] comes in futility and goes into darkness, and in darkness his name is covered.

⁵ Moreover, he has not seen the sun nor had any knowledge, yet he [the stillborn child] has rest rather than he [who is aware of all that he has missed and all that he would not have had to suffer].

⁶ Even though he lives a thousand years twice over and yet has seen no good and experienced no enjoyment—do not all go to one place [the place of the dead]?

⁷ All the labor of man is for his mouth [for self-preservation and enjoyment], and yet his desire is not satisfied.^(J)

⁸ For what advantage has the wise man over the fool [being worldly-wise is not the secret to happiness]? What advantage has the poor man who has learned how to walk before the living [publicly, with men’s eyes upon him; being poor is not the secret to happiness either]?

⁹ Better is the sight of the eyes [the enjoyment of what is available to one] than the cravings of wandering desire. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it!

¹⁰ Whatever [man] is, he has been named that long ago, and it is known that it is man ^[b][Adam]; nor can he contend with Him who is mightier than he [whether God or death].

¹¹ Seeing that there are [all these and] many other things and words that increase the emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility [of living], what profit and what outcome is there for man?

¹² For who [^[c]limited to human wisdom] knows what is good for man in his life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow [going through the motions but accomplishing nothing]? For who can tell a man what will happen [to his work, his treasure, his plans] under the sun after he is gone?

7 A good name is better than precious perfume, and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.

² It is 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 lay it to heart.

³ Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better and gains gladness.^(K)

⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth and sensual joy.

⁵ It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

⁶ For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

⁷ Surely oppression and extortion make a wise man foolish, and a bribe destroys the understanding and judgment.

⁸ Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

⁹ Do not be quick in spirit to be angry or vexed, for anger and vexation lodge in the bosom of fools.^(L)

¹⁰ Do not say, Why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise or because of wisdom that you ask this.

¹¹ Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yes, more excellent it is for those [the living] who see the sun.

¹² For wisdom is a defense even as money is a defense, but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom shields and preserves the life of him who has it.

¹³ Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked?

¹⁴ In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider that God has made the one side by side with the other, so that man may not find out anything that shall be after him.

¹⁵ I have seen everything in the days of my vanity (my emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility): there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in [spite of] his evildoing.

¹⁶ Be not [morbidly exacting and externally] righteous overmuch, neither strive to make yourself [pretentiously appear] overwise—why should you [get puffed up and] destroy yourself [with presumptuous self-sufficiency]?

¹⁷ [Although all have sinned] be not wicked overmuch or willfully, neither be foolish—why should you die before your time?

¹⁸ It is good that you should take hold of this and from that withdraw not your hand; for he who [reverently] fears and worships God will come forth from them all.

¹⁹ [True] wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers or valiant generals who are in the city.^(M)

²⁰ Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth who does good and never sins.^(N)

²¹ Do not give heed to everything that is said, lest you hear your servant cursing you—

²² For often your own heart knows that you have likewise cursed others.

²³ All this have I tried and proved by wisdom. I said, I will be wise [independently of God]—but it was far from me.

²⁴ That which is is far off, and that which is deep is very deep—who can find it out [true wisdom independent of the fear of God]?^(O)

²⁵ I turned about [penitent] and my heart was set to know and to search out and to seek [true] wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [and what had led me into such wickedness and madness].

²⁶ And I found that [of all sinful follies none has been so ruinous in seducing one away from God as idolatrous women] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is snares and nets and whose hands are bands. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her.

²⁷ Behold, this I have found, says the Preacher, while weighing one thing after another to find out the right estimate [and the reason]—

²⁸ Which I am still seeking but have not found—one upright man among a thousand have I found, but an upright woman among all those [one thousand in my harem] have I not found.^(P)

²⁹ Behold, this is the only [reason for it that] I have found: God made man upright, but they [men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil].