ASV - Ecclesiastes Chapter 7 to 9

7 Ecclesiastes 7

¹A good name is better than precious oil; and the day of death, 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 will lay it to his heart. ³Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad. 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 maketh the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroyeth the understanding.

⁸Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. ⁹Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. ¹⁰Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

¹¹Wisdom is as good as an inheritance; yea, more excellent is it for them that see the sun. ¹²For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it. ¹³Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? ¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yea, God hath made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything that shall be after him.

¹⁵All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his evil-doing. ¹⁶Be not righteous overmuch; neither make thyself overwise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? ¹⁷Be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? ¹⁸It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from that withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth from them all.

¹⁹Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers that are in a city. ²⁰Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. ²¹Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee; ²²for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.

²³All this have I proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. ²⁴That which is, is far off and exceeding deep; who can find it out? ²⁵I turned about, and my heart was set to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness. ²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her. ²⁷Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher, laying one thing to another, to find out the account; ²⁸which my soul still seeketh, but I have not found: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. ²⁹Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

8 Ecclesiastes 8

¹Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. ²I counsel thee, Keep the king's command, and that in regard of the oath of God. ³Be not hasty to go out of his presence; persist not in an evil thing: for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. ⁴For the king's word hath power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou? ⁵Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing; and a wise man's heart discerneth time and judgment: ⁶for to every purpose there is a time and judgment; because the misery of man is great upon him: ⁷for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be? ⁸There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in war: neither shall wickedness deliver him that is given to it.

⁹All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man hath power over another to his hurt. ¹⁰So I saw the wicked buried, and they came to the grave; and they that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: 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 do evil a hundred times, and prolong his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, that fear before him: ¹³but 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.

¹⁴There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that shall abide with him in his labor all the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my 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), ¹⁷then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

9 Ecclesiastes 9

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 be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.

²All 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. ³This is an evil in all that is 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. ⁴For to him that 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 shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, is perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.

⁷Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works. ⁸Let thy garments be always white; and let not thy head lack oil. ⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life of vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all thy days of vanity: for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labor wherein thou laborest under the sun. ¹⁰Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.

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 happeneth to them all. ¹²For 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, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

¹³I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me: ¹⁴There 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. ¹⁵Now 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. ¹⁶Then said I, 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 that ruleth among fools. ¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good.