Ecclesiastes 5-8

Ecclesiastes 5

¹¶ Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

²Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter [any] thing before God: for God [is] in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

³For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice [is known] by multitude of words.

⁴¶ When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for [he hath] no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

⁵Better [is it] that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

⁶Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it [was] an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?

⁷For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.

⁸If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for [he that is] higher than the highest regardeth; and [there be] higher than they.

⁹¶ Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king [himself] is served by the field.

¹⁰He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.

¹¹When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good [is there] to the owners thereof, saving the beholding [of them] with their eyes?

¹²The sleep of a labouring man [is] sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

¹³There is a sore evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

¹⁴But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand.

¹⁵As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

¹⁶And this also [is] a sore evil, [that] in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

¹⁷All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

¹⁸¶ Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.

¹⁹Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this [is] the gift of God.

²⁰For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.

Ecclesiastes 6

¹¶ There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it [is] common among men:

²A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this [is] vanity, and it [is] an evil disease.

³If a man beget an hundred [children], and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also [that] he have no burial; I say, [that] an untimely birth [is] better than he.

⁴For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

⁵Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known [any thing]: this hath more rest than the other.

⁶Yea, though he live a thousand years twice [told], yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

⁷¶ All the labour of man [is] for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

⁸For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?

⁹Better [is] the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit.

¹⁰That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it [is] man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

¹¹¶ Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what [is] man the better?

¹²For who knoweth what [is] good for man in [this] life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 7

¹¶ A good name [is] better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

²[It 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 better.

⁴The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools [is] in the house of mirth.

⁵[It 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.

⁷¶ Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

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 enquire wisely concerning this.

¹¹¶ Wisdom [is] good with an inheritance: and [by it there is] profit to them that see the sun.

¹²For wisdom [is] a defence, [and] money [is] a defence: but the excellency of knowledge [is, that] wisdom giveth life to them that have it.

¹³Consider the work of God: for who can make [that] straight, which he hath made crooked?

¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

¹⁵All [things] have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just [man] that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked [man] that prolongeth [his life] in his wickedness.

¹⁶Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

¹⁷Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?

¹⁸[It is] good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.

¹⁹Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty [men] which are in the city.

²⁰For [there is] not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

²¹Also take no 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.

²³¶ All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it [was] far from me.

²⁴That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

²⁵I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason [of things], and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness [and] madness:

²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart [is] snares and nets, [and] her hands [as] bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

²⁷Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, [counting] one by one, to find out the account:

²⁸Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.

²⁹Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Ecclesiastes 8

¹¶ Who [is] as the wise [man]? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.

²I [counsel thee] to keep the king's commandment, and [that] in regard of the oath of God.

³Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

⁴Where the word of a king [is, there is] power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

⁵Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

⁶¶ Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man [is] great upon him.

⁷For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

⁸[There is] no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither [hath he] power in the day of death: and [there is] no discharge in [that] war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

⁹¶ All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

¹⁰And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this [is] also 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 an hundred times, and his [days] be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which 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.

¹⁴¶ There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just [men], unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be 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 merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied mine 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 a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek [it] out, yet he shall not find [it]; yea further; though a wise [man] think to know [it], yet shall he not be able to find [it].