Ecclesiastes 7:7-12
New Living Translation
7 Extortion turns wise people into fools,
and bribes corrupt the heart.
8 Finishing is better than starting.
Patience is better than pride.
9 Control your temper,
for anger labels you a fool.
10 Don’t long for “the good old days.”
This is not wise.
11 Wisdom is even better when you have money.
Both are a benefit as you go through life.
12 Wisdom and money can get you almost anything,
but only wisdom can save your life.
Ecclesiastes 7:7-12
Legacy Standard Bible
7 For (A)oppression gives a wise man over to madness,
And a (B)bribe [a]destroys the heart.
8 Better is the (C)end of a matter than its beginning;
(D)Better is patience of spirit than haughtiness of spirit.
9 Do not be [b](E)eager in your spirit to be vexed,
For vexation rests in the bosom of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
11 Wisdom along with an inheritance is good
And an (F)advantage to those who see the sun.
12 For (G)wisdom is a (H)shadow of protection as money is a shadow of protection,
And the advantage of knowledge is that (I)wisdom preserves the lives of its masters.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 7:7 Lit perishes
- Ecclesiastes 7:9 Lit hasty in your spirit
Ecclesiastes 7:19-26
New Living Translation
19 One wise person is stronger than ten leading citizens of a town!
20 Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.
21 Don’t eavesdrop on others—you may hear your servant curse you. 22 For you know how often you yourself have cursed others.
23 I have always tried my best to let wisdom guide my thoughts and actions. I said to myself, “I am determined to be wise.” But it didn’t work. 24 Wisdom is always distant and difficult to find. 25 I searched everywhere, determined to find wisdom and to understand the reason for things. I was determined to prove to myself that wickedness is stupid and that foolishness is madness.
26 I discovered that a seductive woman[a] is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 7:26 Hebrew a woman.
Ecclesiastes 7:19-26
Legacy Standard Bible
19 (A)Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten men with power who are in a city. 20 Indeed, (B)there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. 21 Also, do not give your heart to all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your slave (C)cursing you. 22 For your heart also knows that you likewise have many times cursed others.
23 I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” (D)but it was far from me. 24 What has been is far away and (E)exceedingly deep. (F)Who can find it? 25 I (G)turned my heart to know, to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the wickedness of foolishness and the simpleminded folly of madness. 26 And I found more (H)bitter than death the woman whose heart is (I)snares and nets, whose hands are chains. (J)One who is good before God will escape from her, but (K)the sinner will be captured by her.
Read full chapter
Ecclesiastes 10:1-11:6
New Living Translation
10 As dead flies cause even a bottle of perfume to stink,
so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and honor.
2 A wise person chooses the right road;
a fool takes the wrong one.
3 You can identify fools
just by the way they walk down the street!
4 If your boss is angry at you, don’t quit!
A quiet spirit can overcome even great mistakes.
The Ironies of Life
5 There is another evil I have seen under the sun. Kings and rulers make a grave mistake 6 when they give great authority to foolish people and low positions to people of proven worth. 7 I have even seen servants riding horseback like princes—and princes walking like servants!
8 When you dig a well,
you might fall in.
When you demolish an old wall,
you could be bitten by a snake.
9 When you work in a quarry,
stones might fall and crush you.
When you chop wood,
there is danger with each stroke of your ax.
10 Using a dull ax requires great strength,
so sharpen the blade.
That’s the value of wisdom;
it helps you succeed.
11 If a snake bites before you charm it,
what’s the use of being a snake charmer?
12 Wise words bring approval,
but fools are destroyed by their own words.
13 Fools base their thoughts on foolish assumptions,
so their conclusions will be wicked madness;
14 they chatter on and on.
No one really knows what is going to happen;
no one can predict the future.
15 Fools are so exhausted by a little work
that they can’t even find their way home.
16 What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant,[a]
the land whose leaders feast in the morning.
17 Happy is the land whose king is a noble leader
and whose leaders feast at the proper time
to gain strength for their work, not to get drunk.
18 Laziness leads to a sagging roof;
idleness leads to a leaky house.
19 A party gives laughter,
wine gives happiness,
and money gives everything!
20 Never make light of the king, even in your thoughts.
And don’t make fun of the powerful, even in your own bedroom.
For a little bird might deliver your message
and tell them what you said.
The Uncertainties of Life
11 Send your grain across the seas,
and in time, profits will flow back to you.[b]
2 But divide your investments among many places,[c]
for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.
3 When clouds are heavy, the rains come down.
Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.
4 Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant.
If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.
5 Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb,[d] so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.
6 Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both.
Footnotes
- 10:16 Or a child.
- 11:1 Or Give generously, / for your gifts will return to you later. Hebrew reads Throw your bread on the waters, / for after many days you will find it again.
- 11:2 Hebrew among seven or even eight.
- 11:5 Some manuscripts read Just as you cannot understand how breath comes to a tiny baby in its mother’s womb.
Ecclesiastes 10:1-11:6
Legacy Standard Bible
The Folly of a Simpleminded Fool
10 Dead flies make a (A)perfumer’s oil stink, so a little simpleminded folly is weightier than wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish (B)man’s heart directs him toward the left. 3 Even when the simpleminded fool walks along the road, his heart lacks wisdom, and he (C)says to all that he is a simpleminded fool. 4 If the ruler’s [a]temper rises against you, (D)do not abandon your position, because (E)calmness causes great offenses to be abandoned.
5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like a mistake which goes forth from the one in power— 6 [b](F)folly is set in many exalted places while rich men sit in humble places. 7 I have seen (G)slaves riding (H)on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.
8 (I)He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a (J)serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall. 9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them. 10 If the [c]axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must [d]exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success. 11 If the serpent bites [e](K)before being charmed, there is no advantage for the charmer. 12 (L)Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, but the lips of a (M)fool swallow him up; 13 the beginning of the words of his mouth is simpleminded folly, and the end of what comes from his mouth is evil (N)madness. 14 Yet the (O)simpleminded fool multiplies words. No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him (P)what will come after him? 15 The labor of [f]a fool so wearies him that he does not even know how to go to a city. 16 Woe to you, O land, whose (Q)king is a young man and whose princes [g]eat in the morning. 17 Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of nobility and whose princes eat at the appropriate time—for might and not for (R)drinking. 18 Through (S)indolence the beams sag, and through slack hands the house leaks. 19 Men prepare bread for laughter, and (T)wine makes life glad, and (U)money [h]is the answer to everything. 20 Furthermore, (V)in your bedchamber do not (W)curse a king, and in your sleeping rooms do not curse a rich man, for a bird of the sky will bring the sound and the winged creature will tell the matter.
Cast Your Bread on the Waters
11 (X)Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you (Y)will find it [i]after many days. 2 (Z)Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what (AA)calamity may occur on the earth. 3 If the clouds are full, they empty the rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it [j]lies. 4 He who [k]watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5 Just as you do not (AB)know [l]the path of the wind and (AC)how bones are formed in the womb of the [m]pregnant woman, so you do not (AD)know the work of God who works all things.
6 Sow your seed (AE)in the morning and do not put your hands down in the evening, for you do not know whether [n]morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 10:4 Lit spirit
- Ecclesiastes 10:6 Or simpleminded folly, cf. Eccl 1:17; 2:3, 12, 13; 10:1, 13
- Ecclesiastes 10:10 Lit iron
- Ecclesiastes 10:10 Lit strengthen
- Ecclesiastes 10:11 Lit without enchantment
- Ecclesiastes 10:15 Lit fools
- Ecclesiastes 10:16 Or feast
- Ecclesiastes 10:19 Lit answers all
- Ecclesiastes 11:1 Lit in, within
- Ecclesiastes 11:3 Lit is
- Ecclesiastes 11:4 Lit keeps
- Ecclesiastes 11:5 Many mss how the spirit enters the bones in the womb
- Ecclesiastes 11:5 Lit full
- Ecclesiastes 11:6 Lit this or that
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.