Ecclesiastes 7 - 12
7 A GOOD NAME SMELLS SWEETER than the finest ointment, and the
day of death is better than the day of birth. Better to visit the house of
mourning than the house of feasting; for to be mourned is the lot of every
man, and the living should take this to heart. Grief is better than laughter:
a sad face may go with a cheerful heart. Wise men's thoughts are at home
in the house of mourning, but a fool's thoughts in the house of mirth. It is
better to listen to a wise man's rebuke than to the praise of fools. For the
laughter of a fool is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. This too is
emptiness. Slander drives a wise man crazy and breaks a strong man's
spirit. Better the end of anything than its beginning; better patience than
pride. Do not be quick to show resentment; for resentment is nursed by
fools. Do not ask why the old days were better than these; for that is a
foolish question. Wisdom is better than possessions and an advantage to
all who see the sun. Better have wisdom behind you than money; wisdom
profits men by giving life to those who know her.
Consider God's handiwork; who can straighten what he has made
crooked? When things go well, be glad; but when things go ill, consider
this: God has set the one alongside the other in such a way that no one can
find out what is to happen next. In my empty existence I have seen it all,
from a righteous man perishing in his righteousness to a wicked man
growing old in his wickedness. Do not be over-righteous and do not be
over-wise. Why make yourself a laughing-stock? Do not be over-wicked
and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good to
hold on to the one thing and not lose hold of the other; for a man who fears
God will succeed both ways. Wisdom makes the wise man stronger than
the ten rulers of a city . The world contains no man so righteous that he can
do right always and never do wrong. Moreover, do not pay attention to
everything men say, or you may hear your servant disparage you; for you
know very well how many times you yourself have disparaged others. All
this I have put to the test of wisdom. I said, 'I am resolved to be wise', but
wisdom was beyond my grasp——whatever has happened lies beyond our
grasp, deep down, deeper than man can fathom.
I went on to reflect, I set my mind to inquire and search for wisdom and
for the reason in things, only to discover that it is folly to be wicked and
madness to act like a fool. The wiles of a woman I find mightier than
death; her heart is a trap to catch you and her arms are fetters. The man
who is pleasing God may escape her, but she will catch a sinner. 'See,'
says the Speaker, 'this is what I have found, reasoning things out one by
one, after searching long without success: I have found one man in a
thousand worth the name, but I have not found one woman among them
all. This alone I have found, that God, when he made man, made him
straightforward, but man invents endless subtleties of his own.'
8 Who is wise enough for all this? Who knows the meaning of anything?
Wisdom lights up a man's face, but grim looks make a man hated. Do as
the king commands you, and if you have to swear by God, do not be
precipitate. Leave the king's presence and do not persist in a thing which
displeases him; he does what he chooses. For the king's word carries
authority. Who can question what he does? Whoever obeys a command
will come to no harm. A wise man knows in his heart the right time and
method for action. There is a time and a method for every enterprise,
although man is greatly troubled by ignorance of the future; who can tell
him what it will bring? It is not in man's power to restrain the wind,
and no one has power over the day of death. In war no one can lay aside
his arms, no wealth will save its possessor. All this I have seen, having
applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There was a time when
one man had power over another and could make him suffer. It was then
that I saw wicked men approaching and even entering the holy place;
and they went about the city priding themselves on having done right. This
too is emptiness. It is because sentence upon a wicked act is not promptly
carried out that men do evil so boldly. A sinner may do wrong and live to
old age, yet I know that it will be well with those that fear God: their fear
of him ensures this, but it will not be well with a wicked man nor will he
live long; the man who does not fear God is a mere shadow. There is an
empty thing found on earth: when the just man gets what is due to the
unjust, and the unjust what is due to the just. I maintain that this too is
emptiness. So I commend enjoyment, since there is nothing good for a
man to do here under the sun but to eat and drink and enjoy himself; this
is all that will remain with him to reward his toil throughout the span of
life which God grants him here under the sun. I applied my mind to acquire
wisdom and to observe the business which goes on upon earth, when man
never closes an eye in sleep day or night; and always I perceive that God
has ordered it so that man should not be able to discover what is happening
here under the sun. However hard a man may try, he will not find out; the
wise man may think that he knows, but he will be unable to find the truth
of it.
9 I applied my mind to all this, and I understood that the righteous and
the wise and their doings are under God's control; but is it love or hatred?
no man knows. Everything that confronts him, everything is empty, since
one and the same fate befalls every one, just and unjust alike, good and bad,
clean and unclean, the man who offers sacrifice and he man who does not.
Good man and sinner fare alike, the man who can take an oath and the man
who dares not. This is what is wrong in all that is done here under the sun:
that one and the same fate befalls every man. The hearts of men are full of
evil; madness fills their hearts all through their lives, and after that they
go down to join the dead. But for a man who is counted among the living
there is still hope: remember, a live dog is better than a dead lion. True,
the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing. There are
no more rewards for them; they are utterly forgotten. For them love, hate,
ambition, all are now over. Never again will they have any part in what is
done here under the sun.
Go to it then, eat your food and enjoy it, and drink your wine with a
cheerful heart; for already God has accepted what you have done. Always
be dressed in white and never fail to anoint your head. Enjoy life with a
woman you love all the days of your allotted span here under the sun,
empty as they are; for that is your lot while you live and labour here under
the sun. Whatever task lies to your hand, do it with all your might; because
in Sheol, for which you are bound, there is neither doing nor thinking,
neither understanding nor wisdom. One more thing I have observed here
under the sun: speed does not win the race nor strength the battle. Bread
does not belong to the wise, nor wealth to the intelligent, nor success to the
skilful; time and chance govern all. Moreover, no man knows when his
hour will come; like fish caught in a net, like a bird in a snare, so men
are trapped when bad times come suddenly.
This too is an example of wisdom as I have observed it here under the
sun, and notable I find it. There was a small town with few inhabitants, and
a great king came to attack it; he besieged it and constructed great siege-
works against it. There was in it a poor wise man, and he alone might have
saved the town by his wisdom, but no one remembered that poor wise man.
'Surely', said I to myself, 'wisdom is better than strength.' But the poor
man's wisdom was despised, and his words went unheeded. A wise man
who speaks his mind calmly is more to bee heeded than a commander
shouting orders among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, and
one mistake can undo many things done well.
10 Dead flies make the perfumer's sweet ointment turn rancid and ferment;
so can a little folly make wisdom lose it worth. The mind of the wise man
faces right, but the mind of the fool faces left. Even when he walks along
the road, the fool shows no sense and calls everyone else a fool. If your
ruler breaks out in anger against you, do not resign your post; submission
makes amends for great mistakes. There is an evil that I have observed
here under the sun, an error for which a ruler is responsible: the fool given
high office, but the great and the rich in humble posts. I have seen slaves
on horseback and men of high rank going on foot like slaves. The man who
digs a pit may fall into it, and he who pulls down a wall may be bitten by a
snake. The man who quarries stones may strain himself, and the wood-
cutter runs a risk of injury. When the axe in blunt and has not first been
sharpened, then one must use force; the wise man has a better chance
of success. If a snake bites before it is charmed, the snake-charmer loses
his fee.
A wise man's words win him favour, but a fool's tongue is his undoing.
He begins by talking nonsense and ends in mischief run mad. The fool
talks on and on; but no man knows what is coming, and who can tell him
what will come after that? The fool wearies himself to death with all his
labour, for he does not know the way to town.
Woe betide the land when a slave has become its king, and its princes
feast in the morning. Happy the land when its king is nobly born, and its
princes feast at the right time of day, with self-control, and not as drunkards.
If the owner is negligent the rafters collapse, and f he is idle the house
crumbles away. The table has its pleasures, and wine makes a cheerful
life; and money is behind it all. Do not speak ill of the king in your ease, or
of a rich man in your bedroom, for a bird may carry your voice, and a
winged messenger may repeat what you say.
11 Send your grain across the seas, and in time you will get a return. Divide
your merchandise among seven ventures, eight maybe, since you do not
know what disasters may occur on earth. If the clouds are heavy with rain,
they will discharge it on the earth; whether a tree falls south or north, it
must lie as it falls. He who watches the wind will never sow, and he who
keeps an eye on the clouds will never reap. You do not know how a pregnant
woman comes to have a body and a living spirit in her womb; nor do you
know how God, the maker of all things, works. In the morning sow your
seed betimes, and do not stop work until evening, for you do not know
whether this or that sowing will be successful, or whether both alike will
do well.
THE LIGHT OF DAY IS SWEET, and pleasant to the eye is the sight
of the sun; if a man lives for many years, he should rejoice in all of
them. But let him remember that the days of darkness will be many.
Everything that is to come will be emptiness. Delight in your boyhood,
young man, make the most of the days of your youth; let your heart
and your eyes show you the way; but remember that for all these things
God will call you to account. Banish discontent from your mind, and
shake off the troubles of the body; boyhood and the prime of life are mere
emptiness.
12 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the time of
trouble comes and the years draw near when you will say, 'I see no purpose
in them.' Remember him before the sun and the light of day give place
to darkness, before the moon and stars grow dim, and the clouds return
with the rain——when the guardians of the house tremble, and the strong
men stoop, when the women grinding the meal cease work because they
are few, and those who look through the windows look no longer, when
the street-doors are shut, when the noise of the mill is low, when the chirp-
ing of the sparrow grows faint and the song-birds fall silent; when men
are afraid of a steep place and the street is full of terrors, when the blossom
whitens on the almond-tree and the locust's paunch is swollen and caper-
buds have no more zest. For man goes to his everlasting home, and the
mourners go about the streets. Remember him before the silver cord is
snapped and the golden bowl is broken, before the pitcher is shattered at
the spring and the wheel broken at the well, before the dust returns to the
earth as it began an the spirit returns to God who gave it. Emptiness,
emptiness, says the speaker, all is empty.
So the speaker, in his wisdom, continued to teach the people what he
knew. He turned over many maxims in his mind and sought how best to
set them out. He chose the words to give pleasure, but what he wrote was
the honest truth. The sayings of the wise are sharp as goads, like nails
driven home; they lead the assembled people, for they come from one
shepherd. One further warning, my son: the use of books is endless, and
much study is wearisome.
This is the end of the matter: you have heard it all. Fear God and obey
his commands; there is no more to man than this. For God brings every-
thing we do to judgement, and every secret, whether good or bad.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Apr 24, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC · edited
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