Ecclesiastes 7

New King James Version

The Value of Practical Wisdom

7 A ^(A)good name is better than precious ointment,
And the day of death than the day of one’s ^(B)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 ^(C)heart.
³^[a]Sorrow is better than laughter,
^(D)For by a sad countenance the heart is made ^[b]better.
⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

⁵^(E)It is better to ^[c]hear the rebuke of the wise
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
⁶^(F)For like the ^[d]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,
^(G)And a bribe ^[e]debases the heart.

⁸The end of a thing is better than its beginning;
^(H)The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
⁹^(I)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 ^(J)to those who see the sun.
¹²For wisdom is ^[f]a ^(K)defense as money is a defense,
But the ^[g]excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives ^(L)life to those who have it.

¹³Consider the work of God;
For ^(M)who can make straight what He has made crooked?
¹⁴^(N)In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one ^[h]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:

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

¹⁶^(P)Do not be overly righteous,
^(Q)Nor be overly wise:
Why should you destroy yourself?
¹⁷Do not be overly wicked,
Nor be foolish:
^(R)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 ^(S)fears God will ^[i]escape them all.

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

²⁰^(U)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 ^[j]proved by wisdom.
^(V)I said, “I will be wise”;
But it was far from me.
²⁴^(W)As for that which is far off and ^(X)exceedingly deep,
Who can find it out?
²⁵^(Y)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^(Z)And I find more bitter than death
The woman whose heart is snares and nets,
Whose hands are fetters.
^[k]He who pleases God shall escape from her,
But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

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

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Footnotes

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
Ecclesiastes 7:18 Lit. come forth from all of them
Ecclesiastes 7:23 tested
Ecclesiastes 7:26 Lit. He who is good before God

Ecclesiastes 8

New King James Version

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

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

Obey Authorities for God’s Sake

²I say, “Keep the king’s commandment ^(C)for the sake of your oath to God. ³^(D)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 ^(E)who may say to him, “What are you doing?”
⁵He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful;
And a wise man’s heart ^[b]discerns both time and judgment,
⁶Because ^(F)for every matter there is a time and judgment,
Though the misery of man ^[c]increases greatly.
⁷^(G)For he does not know what will happen;
So who can tell him when it will occur?
⁸^(H)No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit,
And no one has power in the day of death.
There is ^(I)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 ^(J)forgotten^[d] in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. ¹¹^(K)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^(L)Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that ^(M)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 ^(N)happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the ^(O)righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁵^(P)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 ^(Q)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.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 8:1 Lit. strength
Ecclesiastes 8:5 Lit. knows
Ecclesiastes 8:6 is great upon him
Ecclesiastes 8:10 Some Heb. mss., LXX, Vg. praised

Ecclesiastes 9

New King James Version

Death Comes to All

9 For I ^[a]considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: ^(A)that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them. ²^(B)All things come alike to all:

One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;
To the ^[b]good, the clean, and the unclean;
To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good, so is the sinner;
He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they will die;
But ^(C)the dead know nothing,
And they have no more reward,
For ^(D)the memory of them is forgotten.
⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;
Nevermore will they have a share
In anything done under the sun.

⁷Go, ^(E)eat your bread with joy,
And drink your wine with a merry heart;
For God has already accepted your works.
⁸Let your garments always be white,
And let your head lack no oil.

⁹^[c]Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; ^(F)for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.

¹⁰^(G)Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your ^(H)might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

¹¹I returned ^(I)and saw under the sun that—

The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and ^(J)chance happen to them all.
¹²For ^(K)man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are ^(L)snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.

Wisdom Superior to Folly

¹³This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: ¹⁴^(M)There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great ^[d]snares around it. ¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶Then I said:

“Wisdom is better than ^(N)strength.
Nevertheless ^(O)the poor man’s wisdom is despised,
And his words are not heard.
¹⁷Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard
Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war;
But ^(P)one sinner destroys much good.”

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 9:1 Lit. put
Ecclesiastes 9:2 LXX, Syr., Vg. good and bad,
Ecclesiastes 9:9 Lit. See life
Ecclesiastes 9:14 LXX, Syr., Vg. bulwarks

2 Corinthians 11

New King James Version

Concern for Their Faithfulness

11 Oh, that you would bear with me in a little ^(A)folly—and indeed you do bear with me. ²For I am ^(B)jealous for you with godly jealousy. For ^(C)I have betrothed you to one husband, ^(D)that I may present you ^(E)as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³But I fear, lest somehow, as ^(F)the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds ^(G)may be corrupted from the ^[a]simplicity that is in Christ. ⁴For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a ^(H)different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Paul and False Apostles

⁵For I consider that ^(I)I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. ⁶Even though ^(J)I am untrained in speech, yet I am not ^(K)in knowledge. But ^(L)we have ^[b]been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.

⁷Did I commit sin in ^[c]humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you ^(M)free of charge? ⁸I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. ⁹And when I was present with you, and in need, ^(N)I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked ^(O)the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. ¹⁰^(P)As the truth of Christ is in me, ^(Q)no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹Why? ^(R)Because I do not love you? God knows!

¹²But what I do, I will also continue to do, ^(S)that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. ¹³For such ^(T)are false apostles, ^(U)deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into ^(V)an angel of light. ¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, ^(W)whose end will be according to their works.

Reluctant Boasting

¹⁶I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. ¹⁷What I speak, ^(X)I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. ¹⁸Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast. ¹⁹For you put up with fools gladly, ^(Y)since you yourselves are wise! ²⁰For you put up with it ^(Z)if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face. ²¹To our shame ^(AA)I say that we were too weak for that! But ^(AB)in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.

Suffering for Christ

²²Are they ^(AC)Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: ^(AD)in labors more abundant, ^(AE)in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, ^(AF)in deaths often. ²⁴From the Jews five times I received ^(AG)forty ^(AH)stripes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was ^(AI)beaten with rods; ^(AJ)once I was stoned; three times I ^(AK)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, ^(AL)in perils of my own countrymen, ^(AM)in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷in weariness and toil, ^(AN)in sleeplessness often, ^(AO)in hunger and thirst, in ^(AP)fastings often, in cold and nakedness— ²⁸besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: ^(AQ)my deep concern for all the churches. ²⁹^(AR)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

³⁰If I must boast, ^(AS)I will boast in the things which concern my ^[d]infirmity. ³¹^(AT)The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^(AU)who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. ³²^(AV)In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; ³³but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.