Ecclesiastes 7-12

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

A Disillusioned View of Life

¹⁴ In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that comes after them.^(J)

The Riddles of Life

¹⁵ In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing.^{(K) 16} Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself?^{(L) 17} Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you should take hold of the one without letting go of the other, for the one who fears God shall succeed with both.

¹⁹ Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers who are in a city.^(M)

²⁰ Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.^(N)

²¹ Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; ²² your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.

²³ All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.^{(O) 24} That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?^{(P) 25} I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness.^{(Q) 26} I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.^{(R) 27} See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, adding one thing to another to find the sum,^{(S) 28} which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹ See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.^(T)

Obey the King and Enjoy Yourself

² Keep^[a] the king’s command, and because of your sacred oath^{(V) 3} do not be terrified; go from his presence; do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴ For the word of the king is powerful, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”^{(W) 5} Whoever obeys a command will meet no harm, and the wise mind will know the time and way. ⁶ For every matter has its time and way, although the troubles of mortals lie heavy upon them.^{(X) 7} Indeed, they do not know what is to be, for who can tell them how it will be?^{(Y) 8} No one has power over the wind^[b] to restrain the wind^[c] or power over the day of death; there is no discharge from the battle, nor does wickedness deliver those who practice it.^{(Z) 9} All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.^(AA)

God’s Ways Are Inscrutable

¹⁰ Then I saw the wicked approaching to sacrifice;^[d] they go in and out of the holy place, and they boast^[e] in the city that they have done such things. This also is vanity. ¹¹ Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the human heart is fully set to do evil. ¹² Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him,^{(AB) 13} but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.^(AC)

¹⁴ There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked and wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.^{(AD) 15} So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat and drink and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.^(AE)

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night, ¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.^(AF)

Take Life as It Comes

9 All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them ² is vanity,^[f] since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,^[g] to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath.^{(AG) 3} This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of humans are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.^{(AH) 4} But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵ The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost.^{(AI) 6} Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.^(AJ)

⁷ Go, eat your bread with enjoyment and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has long ago approved what you do.^{(AK) 8} Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head.^{(AL) 9} Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun,^[h] because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.^{(AM) 10} Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.^(AN)

¹¹ Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful, but time and chance happen to them all.^{(AO) 12} For no one can anticipate one’s time. Like fish taken in a cruel net or like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.^(AP)

Wisdom Superior to Folly

¹³ I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. ¹⁴ There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. ¹⁵ Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.^{(AQ) 16} So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”^(AR)

Miscellaneous Observations

⁵ There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as great an error as if it proceeded from the ruler: ⁶ folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place.^{(AW) 7} I have seen slaves on horseback and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

The Value of Diligence

⁵ Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.^(BJ)

⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.^(BK)

Youth and Old Age

⁷ Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.^(BL)

⁸ Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all, yet let them remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.^(BM)

⁹ Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.^(BN)

¹⁰ Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.^(BO)

12 Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; ² before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with^[j] the rain; ³ in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly; ⁴ when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low;^{(BP) 5} when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,^[k] and the caper bud falls; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets;^{(BQ) 6} before the silver cord is snapped,^[l] and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, ⁷ and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath^[m] returns to God who gave it.^{(BR) 8} Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity.

Epilogue

⁹ Besides being wise, the Teacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs.^{(BS) 10} The Teacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth plainly.^(BT)

¹¹ The sayings of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings that are given by one shepherd.^{[n](BU) 12} Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

¹³ The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone.^{(BV) 14} For God will bring every deed into judgment, including^[o] every secret thing, whether good or evil.^(BW)