Ecclesiastes
Chapter 7
1 Having a good reputation is better than having expensive perfume, and the day someone dies is better than the day they are born.
2 It is better to visit a place where people are sad because of death than a place where people are celebrating. This is because everyone will die someday, and the living should think about this.
3 Sadness is better than laughing because a sad face can improve the heart.
4 Wise people think about sad times; foolish people think about happy times.
5 It is better to listen to the correction from someone smart than to enjoy the music of foolish people.
6 Like the noise of thorns burning under a pot, so is a fool’s laugh: it’s also meaningless.
7 Oppression can make a smart person angry; and a bribe can ruin their character.
8 The end of something is better than its start, and being patient is better than being proud.
9 Don’t be quick to get angry, because anger lives in the hearts of fools.
10 Do not ask why the old days were better than now; asking this does not show wisdom.
11 Having wisdom and an inheritance is good, and it benefits those who live under the sun.
12 Wisdom protects us, and so does money, but the best thing about knowledge is that wisdom brings life to those who possess it.
13 Think about what God does: who can fix something if God made it bent?
14 When times are good, be happy, but when times are bad, think: God has made one as well as the other, so that people can’t predict anything about their future.
15 In my empty days, I have seen everything: a good person dies despite being good, and a bad person lives long while being bad.
16 Don’t be too righteous or too wise; why ruin your life?
17 Don’t be too wicked or foolish; why die before it’s your time?
18 It is good for you to grasp this and not let go; because one who respects God will succeed in everything.
19 Wisdom gives the wise more strength than ten strong men in the city.
20 No one on earth is perfect; everyone does some good, but also makes mistakes.
21 Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you might hear your servant speaking badly of you.
22 Your heart knows that you have also cursed others many times.
23 I have tested all these things with wisdom; I thought I could become wise, but it was out of my reach.
24 What is far away and very deep, who can discover it?
25 I set my heart to understand, to investigate, and to find wisdom and explanations, and to understand foolishness, senselessness, and madness.
26 I find a woman whose heart is full of traps and her hands are like chains more bitter than death. Someone who pleases God will avoid her, but a sinner will be caught by her.
27 Look, this is what I have discovered, says the teacher, adding one thing to another to find the explanation.
28 My soul still searches, but I do not find: I have found one man among a thousand, but not one woman among all.
29 Look, I have found only this: God made people good, but they have come up with many schemes.