Ecclesiastes 7
7
Wise Proverbs
1A good name # Pr 22:1 is better than precious oil,
and the day of one’s death than one’s birth.
2It is better to go to a house of mourning for a funeral
than to go to a house of feasting for a celebration;
for this is the destiny of all humanity;
and the living should consider this in their heart. # Ps 90:12
3Grief is better than laughter,
for by sadness of countenance the heart considers the good.
4The heart of those who are wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of those who are foolish is in the house of feasting.
5It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise # Ps 141:5; Pr 15:31–32
than to listen to the song of fools.
6For like the crackling sound of thorns under a pot, # Ps 58:9; 118:12
so is the mocking laughter of fools.
This also is vanity.
7Surely oppression brings confusion to the wise person,
and a bribe corrupts a person’s heart. # Ex 23:8; Dt 16:19
8The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and the patient in spirit than the haughty in spirit. # Pr 14:29; 16:32
9Do not be quick in your spirit to be angry, # Pr 14:17; Jas 1:19
for anger settles in the bosom of fools.
10Do not say, “Why were the earlier days better than these days?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
11Wisdom is good as an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun. # Ecc 11:7
12For the protective shadow of wisdom
is like the protective shadow of silver,
and the advantage of knowledge is
that wisdom preserves the life of the one who possesses it. # Pr 3:18; 8:35
13Consider the work of God:
Who can make straight
what He made crooked? # Job 12:14; Ecc 1:15
14In the day of prosperity be joyful,
but in the day of adversity consider:
God has made the one
as well as the other,
so that people may not find out
anything that comes after them. # Ecc 3:22
Riddles of Life
15I have seen everything in my vain life:
There is the righteous person who dies in his righteousness;
and there is the wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness. # Ecc 8:12–14
16Do not be excessively righteous,
and do not be extremely wise.
Why ruin yourself? # Pr 25:16
17Do not be overly wicked,
and do not be a fool.
Why die before your time? # Ps 55:23; Pr 10:27
18It is good that you take hold of these two sayings,
and from these warnings, remove not your hand; # Ecc 11:6
for the one who fears God will follow them both. # Ecc 8:12
19Wisdom gives the wise person # Pr 21:22; 24:5 more strength
than ten rulers who are in the city.
20Surely there is not a righteous man on earth
who only does good and refrains from sin. # 1Ki 8:46; 2Ch 6:36; Pr 20:9
21Moreover, do not take to heart everything that people say,
lest you hear your servant cursing you. # Pr 30:10
22Your heart knows
that many times you yourself have spoken a curse against others.
23All these matters I have tested by wisdom. I said,
“I will be wise,”
but wisdom has eluded me. # Ro 1:22
24That which exists is far off
and so deep that it is incomprehensible.
Who can discover it? # Ro 11:33
25And I turned my heart to know
and seek and search out wisdom in the scheme of things
and to know the wickedness of folly,
and that foolishness is madness. # Ecc 10:13
26And I find more bitter than death
a woman whose heart is like snares and nets,
whose hands are like prison cells.
He who pleases God escapes her,
but the sinner is captured by her. # Pr 2:18–19; 22:14
27“This is what I have observed,” says Qoheleth,
“while adding one thing to another to understand the scheme of things,
28which my soul has continued to seek out,
but I have not come to find it.
I have found only one upright man in a thousand, # Job 33:23
but a woman among all of these I have not discovered.
29Observe, this thing alone I have discovered,
that God made people upright,
but they have gone after many schemes.” # Ge 3:6–7
Currently Selected:
Ecclesiastes 7: MEV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.
