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People Generally Do Not Know What is Best for Them
7 A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death is better than the day of one’s birth.
2 Better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for death is the end of every person,
and the living should take it to his heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of countenance the heart is made good.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 Better to listen to the rebuke of the wise
than for a man to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the sound of thorns under a pot,
so also the laughter of fools.
This also is vanity!
Wisdom—Although Vulnerable—is Beneficial
7 Surely oppression makes a fool of the wise,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
better to be slow to anger than hot-headed.[a]
9 Do not be quick in your spirit to anger,
for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance;
it benefits the living.[b]
12 For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection.[c]
But knowledge has an advantage—wisdom restores life to its possessor.
Humans Must Accept God’s Will and Make the Best of It
13 Consider the work of God.
For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity, rejoice!
But in the day of adversity, consider!
For God made one in place of another
so that mortals cannot find out what will happen in the future.[d]
The Law of Retribution Does Not Always Work—but It Does Sometimes
15 I have seen all these things in my vain life:
Sometimes a righteous man perishes in spite of his righteousness,
and sometimes a wicked man lives a long life in spite of his evil.
16 Do not be excessively[e] righteous,
and do not act excessively wise, lest you destroy yourself.
17 Do not act excessively wicked,
and do not be a fool, lest you die before your time.
18 It is good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other;
for whoever fears God will hold both of them secure.
Wisdom is Valuable, but No One is Completely Righteous
19 Wisdom gives more strength to the wise
than ten rulers who are in the city.
20 Surely there is no one righteous on the earth
who continually does good and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to everything people say,
lest you hear your own servant curse you.
22 For your heart knows
that you also have cursed others many times.
Absolute Wisdom is Unattainable
23 All this I have tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise!” but it was beyond my grasp.[f] 24 Whatever is—it is far beyond comprehension.[g] Who can discover it?
25 I set my mind to try to seek wisdom and the plan, and to know that wickedness is foolishness and that folly is delusion. 26 I myself found that more bitter than death is the woman who is a trap, whose heart is a snare, and whose hands are bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her. 27 “Look! I found this,” said the Teacher,[h] “while trying to find how the plan fits together. 28 What my heart sought, I did not find. Although I found one righteous man among one thousand, I did not find one upright woman among all these. 29 Look! This alone I found: God made mankind upright, but they have devised many schemes.”
Wisdom is Valuable
8 Who is like the sage?
Who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 Keep the command of the king[i]
because of your oath to God.[j]
3 Do not be terrified of his presence!
Go at once and do not delay when a matter is unpleasant,
for he can do anything that he desires.
4 Since the word of the king is supreme,
no one can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever obeys his command will not suffer disaster.
The wise mind knows the proper time and the right procedure.
6 For there is a proper time and right procedure for every matter,
even though the trouble of man weighs heavy upon him.
No One Knows the Future
7 Surely no one knows what will be,
so who can tell anyone what will happen?
8 Just as no one can control the wind to restrain the wind,
so also no one can control the day of his death.
Just as no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not deliver the wicked.
The World Marred by Oppression and Injustice
9 I saw all this as I applied my heart to all the deeds done under the sun: sometimes those in authority harm others.[k] 10 Meanwhile, I saw the wicked being honorably buried, but those who came and went from the holy place were forgotten in the city, even though they had done so. This also is vanity!
Although Evil is Not Punished Swiftly, God Does Eventually Punish Sinners
11 Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of humans[l] fills up within them to do evil. 12 Although the sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will be good for those who fear God—because they fear his presence.[m] 13 But it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not prolong their days, like the shadow; because there is no fearing God’s presence.[n] 14 There is a vanity that happens on earth: sometimes the righteous suffer what the wicked deserve, and sometimes the wicked receive what the righteous deserve. I said, “This also is vanity!”
Humans Should Enjoy the Life That God Gives to Them
15 So I recommend enjoyment. For there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.
No One Can Discover the Rhyme and Reason for Things
16 I applied my mind to know wisdom and to understand the business that is done on earth—how neither day nor night one’s eyes see sleep. 17 Then I saw all the work of God—man is not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims that he knows it, he cannot find it.
The Same Fate—Death—Awaits Everyone
9 So all this I laid to my heart, and I concluded[o] that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in the hand of God. So no one knows anything that will come to them, whether it will be love or hatred. 2 The same fate comes to everyone:
to the righteous and to the wicked,
to the good and to the wicked,[p]
to the clean and to the unclean,
to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice.
As with the good man, so also to the sinner;
as with those who swear an oath, so also those who fear oaths.
3 This is the injustice[q] that is done under the sun:
the same fate comes to everyone.
Also the hearts of humans[r] are full of evil;
delusion is in their hearts during their lives, and then they die.
Death Deprives Humans of Everything in Life
4 Whoever is joined[s] to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything. They no longer have a reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. 6 What they loved and hated, as well as what they desired, has already perished. They no longer have any share in what is done under the sun.
Enjoy Life While It Lasts
7 Go—eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart! For God already has approved your deeds. 8 Always be clothed in white garments, and never let your head lack oil! 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which he gives you under the sun, because this is your lot in life and in the toil with which you toil under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do—do it with all your might; for in Sheol—where you are going—no one works, plans, knows, or thinks about anything.
The Injustice of Time and Chance
11 I looked again and saw under the sun that the race does not belong to the swift, the battle does not belong to the mighty, food does not belong to the wise, wealth does not belong to the intelligent, and success[t] does not belong to the skillful, for time and chance befalls all of them. 12 For man does not know his time. Just as fish are caught in a cruel net and like birds who are seized in a snare, so also humans[u] are ensnared at a cruel time when it falls suddenly upon them.
Wisdom—Although Vulnerable—is Superior to Power
13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a small city with few people in it. A great king came and besieged it, building great siege works against it. 15 Now, a poor wise man was found in it, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. 16 So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.
Wisdom—Although Vulnerable—is Superior to Folly
17 The words of the wise are heard in peace
more than the shouting of a ruler is heard among the fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
8 For if indeed I grieved you by my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it (I see[a] that that letter grieved you, even though for a short time[b]), 9 now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved according to the will of God, so that you suffered loss in no way through us. 10 For grief according to the will of God brings about a repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but worldly grief brings about death. 11 For behold how much diligence this very thing, being grieved according to the will of God, has brought about in you: what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! In everything you have demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12 Consequently, even if I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong or because of the one who had been wronged, but in order that your diligence on our behalf[c] might be revealed to you before God. 13 Because of this we have been encouraged, and in addition to our encouragement, we rejoiced much more over the joy of Titus, because his spirit had been refreshed by all of you. 14 For if I have boasted anything to him about you, I have not been put to shame, but as I have spoken everything to you in truth, thus also our boasting to Titus has proven to be true[d]. 15 And his affection for you is all the more when he[e] remembers the obedience of all of you as you welcomed him with fear and trembling. 16 I rejoice, because in everything I am completely confident in you.
The Greatness of God in Zion
A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.[a]
48 Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise
in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.[b]
2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion,[c] in the far north,[d]
the city of the great king.
3 God is in her citadels;
he is known as a high stronghold.
4 For see, the kings assembled;[e]
they advanced together.
5 They themselves saw[f] it, so they were astonished.
They were terrified; they ran off.
6 Trembling seized them there—
pain as of a woman in labor.
7 With an east wind
you shatter[g] the ships of Tarshish.[h]
8 As we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God.
God will establish her forever. Selah
9 We have pondered your loyal love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 As is your name, O God, so is your praise
to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let Mount Zion[i] rejoice;
let the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion and circle it;
count her towers.
13 Consider well[j] her ramparts.
Go through her citadels
so that you can tell the next generation
14 that this is God, our God forever and ever.
He himself[k] will guide us until death.
Words of the Wise
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