Ecclesiastes 7

Wisdom and Foolishness Contrasted

1A 1good name is better than good 2oil, And the 3day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.2It is better to go to a house of mourning Than to go to a house of feasting, Because 4that is the 5end of every person, And the living 67takes it to 8heart.39Sorrow is better than laughter, For 10when a face is sad a heart may be happy.4The 11mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the 12mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.5It is better to 13listen to the rebuke of a wise person Than for one to listen to the song of fools.6For as the 14crackling of 15thorn bushes under a pot, So is the 16laughter of the fool; And this too is futility.7For 17oppression makes a wise person look foolish, And a 18bribe 19corrupts the heart.8The 20end of a matter is better than its beginning; 21Patience of spirit is better than arrogance of spirit.9Do not be 2223eager in your spirit to be angry, For anger resides in the 24heart of fools.10Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.11Wisdom along with an inheritance is good, And an 25advantage to those who see the sun.12For 26wisdom is 27protection just as money is 28protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that 29wisdom keeps its possessors alive.13Consider the 30work of God, For who is 31able to straighten what He has bent?1432On the day of prosperity be happy, But 33on the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other So that a person will 34not discover anything that will come after him.

15I have seen everything during my 3536lifetime of futility; there is 37a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is 38a wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness. 16Do not be excessively 39righteous, and do not 40be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? 17Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you 41die 42before your time? 18It is good that you grasp one thing while not 43letting go of the other; for one who 44fears God comes out with 45both of them.

1946Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20Indeed, 47there is not a righteous person on earth who always does good and does not ever sin. 21Also, do not 48take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant 49cursing you, 22for 50you know that even you have cursed others many times as well.

23I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” 51but wisdom was far from me. 24What has been is remote and 52very 53mysterious. 54Who can discover it? 25I 5556directed my 57mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity. 26And I discovered as more 58bitter than death the woman whose heart is 59snares and nets, whose hands are chains. 60One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but 61the sinner will be captured by her.

27“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “by adding one thing to another to find an explanation, 28which 62I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a 63woman among all these. 29Behold, I have found only this, that 64God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”