1 A good name is
better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the
day of one's birth.
2 It 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 will lay it to his heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the
countenance the heart is made better.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the
heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man
to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter
of the fool: this also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth
the heart.
8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and
the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth
in the bosom of fools.
10 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were
better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning
this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit
to them that see the sun.
12 For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the
excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them
that have it.
13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight,
which he hath made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity
consider: God also hath set the one over against the other,
to the end that man should find nothing after him.
15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is
a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is
a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.
16 Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise:
why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest
thou die before thy time?
18 It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also
from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall
come forth of them all.
19 Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which
are in the city.
20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good,
and sinneth not.
21 Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou
hear thy servant curse thee:
22 For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself
likewise hast cursed others.
23 All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise;
but it was far from me.
24 That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it
out?
25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek
out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness
of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart
is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God
shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
27 Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one
by one, to find out the account:
28 Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among
a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I
not found.
29 Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright;
but they have sought out many inventions.
Chapter 8
1 Who is as the
wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's
wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face
shall be changed.
2 I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in
regard of the oath of God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil
thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say
unto him, What doest thou?
5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and
a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore
the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him
when it shall be?
8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain
the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there
is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver
those that are given to it.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work
that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man
ruleth over another to his own hurt.
10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from
the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where
they had so done: this is also vanity.
11 Because 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.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be
prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them
that fear God, which fear before him:
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he
prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth
not before God.
14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there
be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of
the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth
according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also
is vanity.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing
under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for
that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life,
which God giveth him under the sun.
16 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the
business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that
neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)
17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find
out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man
labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further;
though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able
to find it.
Chapter 9
1 For all this
I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the
righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of
God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before
them.
2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous,
and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the
unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth
not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth,
as he that feareth an oath.
3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun,
that there is one event unto all: yea, 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.
4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope:
for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know
not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the
memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now
perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any
thing that is done under the sun.
7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no
ointment.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days
of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the
sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in
this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;
for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom,
in the grave, whither thou goest.
11 I 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 favour
to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are
taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the
snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it
falleth suddenly upon them.
13 This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed
great unto me:
14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and there
came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great
bulwarks against it:
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his
wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor
man.
16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless
the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry
of him that ruleth among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth
much good. |