Ecclesiastes 9:13-11:6
Good News Translation
Thoughts on Wisdom and Foolishness
13 There is something else I saw, a good example of how wisdom is regarded in this world. 14 There was a little town without many people in it. A powerful king attacked it. He surrounded it and prepared to break through the walls. 15 Someone lived there who was poor, but so clever that he could have saved the town. But no one thought about him.[a] 16 I have always said that wisdom is better than strength, but no one thinks of the poor as wise or pays any attention to what they say. 17 It is better to listen to the quiet words of someone wise than to the shouts of a ruler at a council of fools. 18 Wisdom does more good than weapons, but one sinner can undo a lot of good.
10 Dead flies can make a whole bottle of perfume stink, and a little stupidity can cancel out the greatest wisdom.
2 It is natural for the wise to do the right thing and for fools to do the wrong thing. 3 Their stupidity will be evident even to strangers they meet along the way; they let everyone know that they are fools.
4 If your ruler becomes angry with you, do not hand in your resignation; serious wrongs may be pardoned if you keep calm.[b]
5 Here is an injustice I have seen in the world—an injustice caused by rulers. 6 Stupid people are given positions of authority while the rich are ignored. 7 I have seen slaves on horseback while noblemen go on foot like slaves.
8 (A)If you dig a pit, you fall in it; if you break through a wall, a snake bites you. 9 If you work in a stone quarry, you get hurt by stones. If you split wood, you get hurt doing it. 10 If your ax is dull and you don't sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is smarter to plan ahead. 11 Knowing how to charm a snake is of no use if you let the snake bite first. 12 What the wise say brings them honor, but fools are destroyed by their own words. 13 They start out with silly talk and end up with pure madness. 14 A fool talks on and on.
No one knows what is going to happen next, and no one can tell us what will happen after we die.
15 Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work.
16 A country is in trouble when its king is a youth and its leaders feast all night long. 17 But a country is fortunate to have a king who makes his own decisions and leaders who eat at the proper time, who control themselves and don't get drunk.
18 When you are too lazy to repair your roof, it will leak, and the house will fall in.
19 Feasting makes you happy and wine cheers you up, but you can't have either without money.
20 Don't criticize the king, even silently, and don't criticize the rich, even in the privacy of your bedroom. A bird might carry the message and tell them what you said.
What a Wise Person Does
11 Invest your money in foreign trade, and one of these days you will make a profit. 2 Put your investments in several places—many places even—because you never know what kind of bad luck you are going to have in this world.
3 No matter which direction a tree falls, it will lie where it fell. When the clouds are full, it rains. 4 If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything. 5 God made everything, and you can no more understand what he does than you understand how new life begins in the womb of a pregnant woman. 6 Do your planting in the morning and in the evening, too. You never know whether it will all grow well or whether one planting will do better than the other.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 9:15 he could have … him; or he saved the town. But later on no one remembered him.
- Ecclesiastes 10:4 keep calm; or submit to him.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.