Ecclesiastes 6–9

1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:

2a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

3If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he;

4for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

5Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.

6Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don’t all go to one place?

7All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

8For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?

9Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

10Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.

11For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?

12For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

1A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.

2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart.

3Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.

4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.

6For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

7Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.

8Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

9Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

10Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this.

11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.

12For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

13Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight which he has made crooked?

14In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

15All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

16Don’t be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

17Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?

18It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also don’t withdraw your hand from that; for he who fears God will come out of them all.

19Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

20Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and doesn’t sin.

21Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;

22for often your own heart knows that you yourself have likewise cursed others.

23All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise;” but it was far from me.

24That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out?

25I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.

26I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

27“Behold, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “to one another, to find an explanation

28which my soul still seeks, but I have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all those.

29Behold, I have only found this: that God made mankind upright; but they search for many inventions.”

1Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

2I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God.

3Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him,

4for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

5Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.

6For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.

7For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

8There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.

9All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.

10So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.

11Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

12Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.

13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.

14There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

15Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

16When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (even though eyes see no sleep day or night),

17then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.

1For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them.

2All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

4For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

6Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither do they any longer have a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

7Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

8Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.

9Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

11I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

12For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

13I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

14There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

15Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

16Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

17The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

18Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.