Old/New Testament
A. No One Can Find Out the Best Way of Acting
Chapter 7
Critique of Sages on the Day of Adversity
1 A good name is better than good ointment,[a]
and the day of death than the day of birth.(A)
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to the house of feasting,
For that is the end of every mortal,
and the living should take it to heart.(B)
3 Sorrow is better than laughter;
when the face is sad, the heart grows wise.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of merriment.
5 It is better to listen to the rebuke of the wise
than to listen to the song of fools;
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the fool’s laughter.
This also is vanity.
7 Extortion can make a fool out of the wise,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;
better is a patient spirit than a lofty one.
9 Do not let anger upset your spirit,
for anger lodges in the bosom of a fool.
10 Do not say: How is it that former times were better than these? For it is not out of wisdom that you ask about this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
and profitable to those who see the sun.
12 [b]For the protection of wisdom is as the protection of money; and knowledge is profitable because wisdom gives life to those who possess it.
13 Consider the work of God. Who can make straight what God has made crooked?(C) 14 On a good day enjoy good things, and on an evil day consider: Both the one and the other God has made, so that no one may find the least fault with him.
Critique of Sages on Justice and Wickedness. 15 [c]I have seen all manner of things in my vain days: the just perishing in their justice, and the wicked living long in their wickedness. 16 “Be not just to excess, and be not overwise. Why work your own ruin? 17 Be not wicked to excess, and be not foolish. Why should you die before your time?” 18 It is good to hold to this rule, and not to let that one go; but the one who fears God will succeed with both.
19 Wisdom is a better defense for the wise than ten princes in the city, 20 (D)yet there is no one on earth so just as to do good and never sin. 21 Do not give your heart to every word that is spoken; you may hear your servant cursing you, 22 for your heart knows that you have many times cursed others.
23 All these things I probed in wisdom. I said, “I will acquire wisdom”; but it was far beyond me. 24 What exists is far-reaching; it is deep, very deep:[d] Who can find it out? 25 [e](E)I turned my heart toward knowledge; I sought and pursued wisdom and its design, and I recognized that wickedness is foolishness and folly is madness.
Critique of Advice on Women. 26 (F)More bitter than death I find the woman[f] who is a hunter’s trap, whose heart is a snare, whose hands are prison bonds. The one who pleases God will be delivered from her, but the one who displeases will be entrapped by her. 27 See, this have I found, says Qoheleth, adding one to one to find the sum. 28 What my soul still seeks and has yet to find is this: “One man out of a thousand have I found, but a woman among them all I have not found.” 29 But this alone I have found: God made humankind honest, but they have pursued many designs.
Chapter 8
Critique of Advice to Heed Authority
1 [g]Who is like the wise person,
and who knows the explanation of things?
Wisdom illumines the face
and transforms a grim countenance.
2 Observe the command of the king, in view of your oath to God. 3 Be not hasty to withdraw from the king; do not persist in an unpleasant situation, for he does whatever he pleases. 4 His word is sovereign, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5 [h](G)“Whoever observes a command knows no harm, and the wise heart knows times and judgments.” 6 (H)Yes, there is a time and a judgment for everything. But it is a great evil for mortals 7 (I)that they are ignorant of what is to come; for who will make known to them how it will be? 8 No one is master of the breath of life so as to retain it, and none has mastery of the day of death. There is no exemption in wartime, nor does wickedness deliver those who practice it. 9 All these things I saw and I applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun, while one person tyrannizes over another for harm.
The Problem of Retribution. 10 Meanwhile I saw the wicked buried. They would come and go from the holy place. But those were forgotten in the city who had acted justly. This also is vanity.[i] 11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not promptly executed, the human heart is filled with the desire to commit evil— 12 [j]because the sinner does evil a hundred times and survives. Though indeed I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, for their reverence toward him; 13 and that it shall not be well with the wicked, who shall not prolong their shadowy days, for their lack of reverence toward God.
14 This is a vanity that occurs on earth: There are those who are just but are treated as though they had done evil, and those who are wicked but are treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity. 15 (J)Therefore I praised joy, because there is nothing better for mortals under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be joyful; this will accompany them in their toil through the limited days of life God gives them under the sun.
16 I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, though neither by day nor by night do one’s eyes see sleep, 17 (K)and I saw all the work of God: No mortal can find out the work that is done under the sun. However much mortals may toil in searching, no one finds it out; and even if the wise claim to know, they are unable to find it out.
B. No One Knows the Future
Chapter 9
1 All this I have kept in my heart and all this I examined: The just, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Love from hatred[k] mortals cannot tell; both are before them. 2 (L)Everything is the same for everybody: the same lot for the just and the wicked, for the good, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who offers sacrifice and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so it is for the one who fears an oath. 3 Among all the things that are done under the sun, this is the worst, that there is one lot for all. Hence the hearts of human beings are filled with evil, and madness is in their hearts during life; and afterward—to the dead!
4 For whoever is chosen among all the living has hope: “A live dog[l] is better off than a dead lion.” 5 (M)For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them, because all memory of them is lost. 6 For them, love and hatred and rivalry have long since perished. Never again will they have part in anything that is done under the sun.
7 (N)Go, eat your bread[m] with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, because it is now that God favors your works. 8 At all times let your garments be white, and spare not the perfume for your head. 9 Enjoy life with the wife you love, all the days of the vain life granted you under the sun. This is your lot in life, for the toil of your labors under the sun. 10 Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, no planning, no knowledge, no wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
The Time of Misfortune Is Not Known. 11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time of misfortune comes to all alike. 12 Human beings no more know their own time than fish taken in the fatal net or birds trapped in the snare; like these, mortals are caught when an evil time suddenly falls upon them.
The Uncertain Future and the Sages. 13 On the other hand I saw this wise deed under the sun, which I thought magnificent. 14 Against a small city with few inhabitants advanced a mighty king, who surrounded it and threw up great siegeworks about it. 15 But in the city lived a man who, though poor, was wise, and he delivered it through his wisdom. Yet no one remembered this poor man. 16 (O)Though I had said, “Wisdom is better than force,” yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words go unheeded.
17 The quiet words of the wise are better heeded
than the shout of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one bungler destroys much good.
Chapter 13
1 This third time I am coming[a] to you. “On the testimony of two or three witnesses a fact shall be established.”(A) 2 I warned those who sinned earlier[b] and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not be lenient, 3 [c]since you are looking for proof of Christ speaking in me. He is not weak toward you but powerful in you. 4 For indeed he was crucified out of weakness, but he lives by the power of God. So also we are weak in him, but toward you we shall live with him by the power of God.
5 [d]Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, of course, you fail the test. 6 I hope you will discover that we have not failed. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do evil, not that we may appear to have passed the test but that you may do what is right, even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong. What we pray for is your improvement.
10 [e](B)I am writing this while I am away, so that when I come I may not have to be severe in virtue of the authority that the Lord has given me to build up and not to tear down.
V. Conclusion[f]
11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the holy ones greet you.(C)
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you.(D)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.