Ecclesiastes 7 - Prayer Tents

A Disillusioned View of Life

7A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death, than the day of birth.H8034H2896H2896H8081H3117H4194H3117H3205 2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for this is the end of everyone, and the living will lay it to heart.H2896H3212H1004H60H3212H1004H4960H834H5490H120H2416H5414H3820 3Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.H3708H2896H7814H7455H6440H3820H3190 4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.H3820H2450H1004H60H3820H3684H1004H8057 5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.H2896H8085H1606H2450H376H8085H7892H3684 6For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools; this also is vanity.H6963H5518H5518H7814H3684H1892 7Surely oppression makes the wise foolish, and a bribe corrupts the heart.H6233H2450H1984H4979H6H3820 8Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.H2896H319H1697H7225H750H7307H2896H1362H7307 9Do not be quick to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.H926H7307H3707H3708H5117H2436H3684 10Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.H559H7223H3117H2896H7592H2451 11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun.H2451H2896H5159H3148H7200H8121 12For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.H2451H6738H3701H6738H3504H1847H2451H2421H1167 13Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he has made crooked?H7200H4639H430H3201H8626H5791 14In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.H3117H2896H2896H3117H7451H7200H430H6213H5980H1700H120H4672H3972H310

The Riddles of Life

15In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evil-doing.H7200H3117H1892H3426H6662H6H6664H7563H748H7451 16Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself?H6662H7235H3148H2449H8074 17Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time?H7235H7561H5530H4191H6256 18It is good that you should take hold of the one, without letting go of the other; for the one who fears God shall succeed with both.H2896H270H2088H3240H3027H3373H430H3318 19Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city.H2451H5810H2450H6235H7989H5892 20Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.H6662H120H776H6213H2896H2398 21Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you;H5414H3820H1697H1696H8085H5650H7043 22your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.H6471H7227H3820H3045H7043H312 23All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me.H2090H5254H2451H559H2449H7350 24That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?H7350H6013H4672 25I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness.H5437H3820H3045H8446H1245H2451H2808H3045H7562H3689H5531H1947 26I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.H4672H4751H4194H802H3820H4685H2764H3027H612H2896H6440H430H4422H2398H3920 27See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, adding one thing to another to find the sum,H7200H4672H559H6953H259H259H4672H2808 28which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found.H5315H1245H4672H259H120H505H4672H802H4672 29See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.H7200H905H4672H430H6213H120H3477H1245H7227H2810