Wise Sayings
1 A good name is better than fine perfume, y
and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. z
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
since that is the end of all mankind,
and the living should take it to heart. a
3 Grief is better than laughter,
for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. b
4 The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.
5 It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools, c
6 for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, d
so is the laughter of the fool.
This too is futile.
7 Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, e
and a bribe corrupts the mind. f
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit. g
9 Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry,
for anger abides in the heart of fools. h
10 Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these? ” i
since it is not wise of you to ask this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
and an advantage to those who see the sun,
12 because wisdom is protection as silver is protection;
but the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner. j
13 Consider the work of God, k
for who can straighten out
what he has made crooked? l
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, m but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, n so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.
Avoiding Extremes
15 In my futile life I have seen everything: o someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, p and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil. q 16 Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. r Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time? s 18 It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.
19 Wisdom makes the wise person stronger
than ten rulers of a city. t
20 There is certainly no one righteous on the earth
who does good and never sins. u
21 Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, v 22 for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.
What the Teacher Found
23 I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. 24 What exists is beyond reach and very deep. w Who can discover it? 25 I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom x and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death y the woman who is a trap: z her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27 “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28 which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman. a 29 Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, b but they pursued many schemes.”
7:1–4. The general nature of the rhetorical question “Who knows what is good for anyone in life?” (6:12a) becomes apparent in this central section of the unit (7:1–12). Here the author employs a series of traditional proverbs in order to affirm, somewhat ironically, nine things that are good or better, many of which initially appear to be undesirable. The major emphasis here is that wisdom can be acquired or augmented in the hard times of life.
7:5–12. Additional difficult lessons can be learned by preferring a sage’s painful rebuke to the frivolous and flattering “song of fools” (7:5). Ecclesiastes 7:6 explains the inferiority of the latter: a fool’s levity is as noisy and useless as “thorns” (Hb hassirim) used for fuel under a cooking “pot” (Hb hassir, another wordplay), for both soon fade away.
7:13–14. These concluding verses parallel the introductory verses (6:10–12) and are dominated by three positive imperatives (“consider,” “be joyful,” “consider”). Alluding to the reminder in 6:10b that humans are not able to contend with the superior strength of God, the author asks in 7:13: “Who can straighten out what [God] has made crooked?” Here the author takes up the proverb of 1:15 and ascribes this twisting action to God. Humans cannot change what God has ordained. So the Teacher charges us to enjoy pleasant times and, in unpleasant times, to reflect on the fact that both good and bad days come from God and serve his sovereign purposes, although we as humans cannot find out anything about the future (7:14).
7:15–19. The Teacher begins by citing two contrary examples: a righteous man who perishes (prematurely) in his righteousness and a wicked man who lives long in his wickedness (7:15). This apparent injustice prompts some rather pagan-sounding advice: do not be overrighteous, overwise, overwicked, or a fool (7:16–17). Some interpreters read this as a recommendation of moderation in all things, as if a little godlessness is perfectly acceptable as long as one does not attract God’s attention! A contextually plausible interpretation may be to see here varying degrees of righteousness: relative (7:15), pretentious (7:16), and absolute (7:20). On the one hand, the person who seeks to exhibit exaggerated righteousness and wisdom (7:16) in order to avoid a fate similar to that of the righteous person of verse 15 will be in for a big shock. The one who concludes that divine justice is blind and thus plunges headlong into ungodly and foolish behavior may end up dying prematurely (7:17). Therefore, the author concludes (7:18) that the God-fearer will take hold of both warnings (7:16a, 17a), thereby escaping both fates (7:16b, 17b). Proverbially speaking (7:19), acting wisely in such a situation offers a person more protection than a city council, as will be illustrated more fully in 9:13–18.
7:20–24. The following verses continue to develop the theme by conceding that no one is completely righteous (7:20–22) or wise (7:23–24). Accordingly, how righteous does one have to be before claiming to be treated unjustly by God? There is no one who never sins (7:20), especially in speech (7:21–22). A similar acknowledgment is made in Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kg 8:46 (// 2 Ch 6:36) and in Pr 20:9. “Cursing” here may have the weaker sense of merely denigrating or insulting someone.
7:25–29. This leads to a more modest search. In his quest for a wise explanation and his effort to “know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness” (7:25), the Teacher makes three discoveries. First, he discovers that wicked and foolish women are dangerous, even life-threatening, but one can escape their snare (7:26). This verse echoes the descriptions of the adulteress and Lady Folly in Proverbs (Pr 2:16–19; 5:3–6; 7:5–23; 9:13–18) and does not refer to all women (cf. Ec 9:9). [The Teacher’s Search for an Upright Woman]