Ecclesiastes 7
1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death is better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting, for that is the end of everyone, and the living should take it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad face can make the heart better.
4 The hearts of the wise are in the house of mourning, but the hearts of fools are in the house of joy.
5 It is better to hear a wise person’s rebuke than to hear a song sung by fools.
6 For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool. This too is a breath.
7 For oppression drives the wise person mad, and a gift destroys the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning; patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quick to become angry in your spirit, for anger settles in the hearts of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” It is not wisdom that leads you to ask this.
11 Wisdom is good, like an inheritance, and it benefits those who see the sun.
12 For shelter in wisdom is like shelter in money. The advantage of knowledge is this: wisdom gives life to its possessor.
13 Consider the work of God: who can straighten what he has bent?
14 On a good day, enjoy the good; on a bad day, consider this: God has made both, so that no one can discover what will come after them.
15 In my fleeting days I have seen it all: a righteous person perishes despite his righteousness, and a wicked person lives long despite his evil.
16 Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overly wicked, and do not be a fool. Why die before your time?
18 It is good to hold on to one thing and not let go of the other, for whoever fears God will escape both.
19 Wisdom gives the wise more strength than ten rulers in the city.
20 For there is no righteous person on earth who does good and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you.
22 For your heart knows that many times you too have cursed others.
23 I tested all this with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but wisdom remained far from me.
24 What exists is far away and very deep—so deep. Who can find it?
25 I turned my attention, with all my heart, to know, explore, and seek wisdom and the reason for things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the madness of foolishness.
26 I found something more bitter than death: a woman who is a trap, whose heart is a net and whose hands are chains. Whoever is good in God’s sight escapes her, but the sinner is caught by her.
27 “Look at what I found,” says the Teacher. “I considered one thing after another to find the reason for things.”
28 What I was still seeking, I have not found: I found one man among a thousand, but among all these I found no woman.
29 This alone I found: God made human beings upright, but they have pursued many schemes.
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