Ecclesiastes chapter 7 A good
name is better than precious ointment, And the day of death
than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house
of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For this is
the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the
wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in
the house of mirth. It is better for a man to hear
the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns
under a pot, so also is the laughter of the fools. This also is vanity. Surely oppression drives the
wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. Better is
the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is
better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to
become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools. Say not,
Why were the former days better than these? For it is not from
wisdom that you ask this. Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun. For the protection of
wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of
knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. Consider
the work of God. Who can make straight what He
has made crooked? 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 man may not find out anything
that will be after him. In my vain life, I have seen
everything. There is a righteous man who
perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who
prolongs his life in his evil doing. Be not overly righteous,
and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy
yourself? Be not overly wicked, neither
be a fool. Why should you die before your
time? It is good that you should take
hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who
fears God shall come out from both of them." Wisdom gives strength
to the wise man, more than ten rulers who are in a city. Surely
there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never
sins. Do not take to heart all the
things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing
you. Your heart knows that many times
you yourself have cursed others." All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, I will be wise, but it
was far from me. That which has been is far off,
and deep, very deep. Who can find it out? I turned
my heart to know, and to search out, and to seek wisdom, and
the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly,
and the foolishness that is madness, and I find something more bitter
than death. the woman whose heart is snares
and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes
her, but the sinner is taken by her. Behold, this is what
I found, says the preacher, while adding one thing to another to
find the scheme of things, which my soul 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. See, this alone I
found, That God made man upright, But they have sought out many
schemes. you