Prescriptions against worldly vanities: mortification, patience, and
seeking wisdom.
7:1. What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he
knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of
his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can
tell him what shall be after him under the sun?
7:2. A good name is better than precious ointments: and the day of
death than the day of one's birth.
7:3. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of
feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the
living thinketh what is to come.
7:4. Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the
countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.
Anger. . .That is, correction, or just wrath and zeal against evil.
7:5. The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of
fools where there is mirth.
7:6. It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be deceived by
the flattery of fools.
7:7. For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the
laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity.
7:8. Oppression troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the strength of
his heart.
7:9. Better is the end of a speech than the beginning. Better is the
patient man than the presumptuous.
7:10. Be not quickly angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of a fool.
7:11. Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former times were
better than they are now? for this manner of question is foolish.
7:12. Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more
advantage to them that see the sun.
7:13. For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence: but learning
and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth
them.
7:14. Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom he hath
despised.
7:15. In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the
evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may
not find against him any just complaint.
7:16. These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just man
perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time in his
wickedness.
7:17. Be not over just: and be not more wise than is necessary, lest
thou become stupid.
Over just. . .Viz., By an excessive rigour in censuring the ways of God
in bearing with the wicked.
7:18. Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die before
thy time.
Be not overmuch wicked. . .That is, lest by the greatness of your sin
you leave no room for mercy.
7:19. It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and from him
withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth nothing.
7:20. Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes of the
city.
7:21. For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth
not.
7:22. But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken: lest
perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.
7:23. For thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often spoken evil
of others.
7:24. I have tried all things in wisdom. I have said: I will be wise:
and it departed farther from me,
7:25. Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall find it
out?
7:26. I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and consider,
and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the wickedness of the fool,
and the error of the imprudent:
7:27. And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is the
hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are bands. He
that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall
be caught by her.
7:28. Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after
another, that I might find out the account,
7:29. Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among
a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found.
7:30. Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath
entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise
man? and who hath known the resolution of the word?
Of the word. . .That is, of this obscure and difficult matter.