Ecclesiastes 7-9

Common English Bible

Wisdom is better than wealth

Good times and bad

¹³ Consider God’s work! Who can straighten what God has made crooked? ¹⁴ When times are good, enjoy the good; when times are bad, consider: God has made the former as well as the latter so that people can’t discover anything that will come to be after them.

¹⁵ I have seen everything in my pointless lifetime: the righteous person may die in spite of their righteousness; then again, the wicked may live long in spite of their wickedness. ¹⁶ Don’t be too righteous or too wise, or you may be dumbfounded.^{[b] 17} Don’t be too wicked and don’t be a fool, or you may die before your time. ¹⁸ It’s good that you take hold of one of these without letting go of the other because the one who fears God will go forth with both.

¹⁹ Wisdom makes a wise person stronger than ten rulers who are in a city. ²⁰ Remember: there’s no one on earth so righteous as to do good only and never make a mistake.^{[c] 21} Don’t worry about all the things people say, so you don’t hear your servant cursing you. ²² After all, you know that you’ve often cursed others yourself!

Life is complicated

²³ I tested all of this by wisdom. I thought, I will be wise, but it eluded me.

²⁴ All that happens is elusive and utterly unfathomable. Who can grasp it? ²⁵ I turned my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, along with an account of things, to know that wickedness is foolishness and folly is madness.

²⁶ I found one woman more bitter than death: she who is a trap, her heart a snare, her hands shackles. Anyone who pleases God escapes her, but a sinner is trapped by her. ²⁷ See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, examining one matter after another to account for things. ²⁸ But there’s something that I constantly searched for but couldn’t find: I found one man among a thousand, but I couldn’t find a woman among any of these.^[d]

²⁹ See, this alone I found: God made human beings straightforward, but they search for many complications.

Watch out for power

⁵ Whoever keeps a command will meet no harm, and the wise heart knows the right time and the right way ⁶ because there’s a right time and right way for every matter. But human misfortunes are overwhelming ⁷ because no one knows what will happen, and no one can say when something might happen. ⁸ No one has control over the life-breath,^[f] to retain it, and there’s no control over the day of death. There’s no release from war, and wickedness won’t deliver those who practice it.

⁹ I observed all of this as I paid attention to all that happens under the sun. Sometimes people exercise power over each other to their detriment. ¹⁰ Then I saw the wicked brought to their graves, with people processing from a holy place,^[g] while those who had lived honestly were neglected in the city. This too is pointless.

¹¹ The condemnation for wicked acts isn’t carried out quickly; that’s why people dare to do evil. ¹² Wrongdoers may commit a hundred crimes but still live long lives. But I also know that it will go well for those who fear God, for those who are reverent before God. ¹³ But it will not go well for the wicked; they won’t live long at all because they aren’t reverent before God. ¹⁴ Here’s another thing that happens on earth that is pointless: the righteous get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked get what the righteous deserve. I say that this too is pointless.

Enjoy life

¹⁵ So I commend enjoyment because there’s nothing better for people to do under the sun but to eat, drink, and be glad. This is what will accompany them in their hard work, during the lifetime that God gives under the sun.

¹⁶ Then I set my mind to know wisdom and to observe the business that happens on earth, even going without sleep day and night ¹⁷ I observed all the work of God—that no one can grasp what happens under the sun. Those who strive to know can’t grasp it. Even the wise who are set on knowing are unable to grasp it.

Everyone faces the same fate

9 So I considered all of this carefully, examining all of it: The righteous and the wise and their deeds are in God’s hand, along with both love and hate. People don’t know anything that’s ahead of them. ² Everything is the same for everyone. The same fate awaits the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,^[h] the pure and the impure, those who sacrifice and those who don’t sacrifice. The good person is like the wrongdoer; the same holds for those who make solemn pledges and those who are afraid to swear. ³ This is the sad thing about all that happens under the sun: the same fate awaits everyone. Moreover, the human heart is full of evil; people’s minds are full of madness while they are alive, and afterward they die. ⁴ Whoever is among the living can be certain about this. A living dog is definitely better off than a dead lion, ⁵ because the living know that they will die. But the dead know nothing at all. There is no more reward for them; even the memory of them is lost. ⁶ Their love and their hate, as well as their zeal, are already long gone. They will never again have a stake in all that happens under the sun.

⁷ Go, eat your food joyfully and drink your wine happily because God has already accepted what you do. ⁸ Let your garments always be white; don’t run short of oil for your head. ⁹ Enjoy life with your dearly loved spouse all the days of your pointless life that God^[i] gives you under the sun—all the days of your pointless life!^[j]—because that’s your part to play^[k] in this life and in your hard work under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever you are capable of doing, do with all your might because there’s no work, thought, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave,^[l] which is where you are headed.

Listen to common wisdom, not fools

¹¹ I also observed under the sun that the race doesn’t always go to the swift, nor the battle to the mighty, nor food to the wise, nor wealth to the intelligent, nor favor to the knowledgeable, because accidents can happen to anyone. ¹² People most definitely don’t know when their time will come. Like fish tragically caught in a net or like birds trapped in a snare, so are human beings caught in a time of tragedy that suddenly falls to them.

¹³ I also observed the following example of wisdom under the sun—it impressed me greatly: ¹⁴ There was a small town with only a few residents. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and waged a terrible war against it. ¹⁵ Now there lived in that town a poor but wise man who saved everyone by his wisdom. But no one remembered that poor man. ¹⁶ So I thought, Wisdom is better than might, but the wisdom of commoners is despised and their words aren’t heeded.

¹⁷ The calm words of the wise are better heeded than the racket caused by a ruler among fools.

¹⁸ Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one incompetent person destroys much good.