Ecclesiastes 7:1-29 LSV

[1] Better [is] a name than good perfume, || And the day of death than the day of birth. [2] Better to go to a house of mourning, || Than to go to a house of banqueting, || For that is the end of all men, || And the living lays [it] to his heart. [3] Better [is] sorrow than laughter, || For by the sadness of the face the heart becomes better. [4] The heart of the wise [is] in a house of mourning, || And the heart of fools in a house of mirth. [5] Better to hear a rebuke of a wise man, || Than [for] a man to hear a song of fools, [6] For as the noise of thorns under the pot, || So [is] the laughter of a fool, even this [is] vanity. [7] Surely oppression makes the wise mad, || And a gift destroys the heart. [8] Better [is] the latter end of a thing than its beginning, || Better [is] the patient of spirit, than the haughty of spirit. [9] Do not be hasty in your spirit to be angry, || For anger in the bosom of fools rests. [10] Do not say, “What was it, || That the former days were better than these?” For you have not asked wisely of this. [11] Wisdom [is] good with an inheritance, || And an advantage [it is] to those beholding the sun. [12] For wisdom [is] a defense, money [is] a defense, || And the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom [is], || She revives her possessors. [13] See the work of God, || For who is able to make straight that which He made crooked? [14] In a day of prosperity be in gladness, || And in a day of calamity consider: God has also made this alongside of that, || To the intent that man does not find anything after him. [15] The whole I have considered in the days of my vanity. There is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wrongdoer prolonging [himself] in his wrong. [16] Do not be over-righteous, nor show yourself too wise, why are you desolate? [17] Do not do much wrong, neither be a fool, why do you die within your time? [18] [It is] good that you lay hold on this, and also, do not withdraw your hand from that, for whoever is fearing God goes out with them all. [19] The wisdom gives strength to a wise man, more than wealth the rulers who have been in a city. [20] Because there is not a righteous man on earth that does good and does not sin. [21] Also to all the words that they speak do not give your heart, that you do not hear your servant reviling you. [22] For many times also has your heart known that you yourself have also reviled others. [23] All this I have tried by wisdom; I have said, “I am wise,” and it [is] far from me. [24] Far off [is] that which has been, and deep, deep, who finds it? [25] I have turned around, also my heart, to know and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and reason, and to know the wrong of folly, and the madness of foolishness. [26] And I am finding more bitter than death, the woman whose heart [is] nets and snares, her hands [are] bands; the good before God escapes from her, but the sinner is captured by her. [27] See, this I have found, said the Preacher, one to one, to find out the reason [28] (that still my soul had sought, and I had not found), || One man, a teacher, I have found, and a woman among all these I have not found. [29] See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they have sought out many inventions.