Ecclesiastes 7:7 - 7:12 - Legacy Standard Bible

Ecclesiastes 7:7 - 7:12

For oppression gives a wise man over to madness,

And a bribe destroys the heart.

Better is the end of a matter than its beginning;

Better is patience of spirit than haughtiness of spirit.

Do not be eager in your spirit to be vexed,

For vexation rests in the bosom of fools.

Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

Wisdom along with an inheritance is good

And an advantage to those who see the sun.

For wisdom is a shadow of protection as money is a shadow of protection,

And the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its masters.

Ecclesiastes 7:19 - 7:26

19 Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten men with power who are in a city. 20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. 21 Also, do not give your heart to all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your slave cursing you. 22 For your heart also knows that you likewise have many times cursed others. 23 I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 What has been is far away and exceedingly deep. Who can find it? 25 I turned my heart to know, to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the wickedness of foolishness and the simpleminded folly of madness. 26 And I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is good before God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

Ecclesiastes 10:1 - 11:6

The Folly of a Simpleminded Fool

Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink, so a little simpleminded folly is weightier than wisdom and honor. 2 A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left. 3 Even when the simpleminded fool walks along the road, his heart lacks wisdom, and he says to all that he is a simpleminded fool. 4 If the ruler’s temper rises against you, do not abandon your position, because calmness causes great offenses to be abandoned. 5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like a mistake which goes forth from the one in power— 6 folly is set in many exalted places while rich men sit in humble places. 7 I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land. 8 He who digs a pit may fall into it, and a serpent may bite him who breaks through a wall. 9 He who quarries stones may be hurt by them, and he who splits logs may be endangered by them. 10 If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success. 11 If the serpent bites before being charmed, there is no advantage for the charmer. 12 Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, but the lips of a fool swallow him up; 13 the beginning of the words of his mouth is simpleminded folly, and the end of what comes from his mouth is evil madness. 14 Yet the simpleminded fool multiplies words. No man knows what will happen, and who can tell him what will come after him? 15 The labor of a fool so wearies him that he does not even know how to go to a city. 16 Woe to you, O land, whose king is a young man and whose princes eat in the morning. 17 Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of nobility and whose princes eat at the appropriate time—for might and not for drinking. 18 Through indolence the beams sag, and through slack hands the house leaks. 19 Men prepare bread for laughter, and wine makes life glad, and money is the answer to everything. 20 Furthermore, in your bedchamber do not curse a king, and in your sleeping rooms do not curse a rich man, for a bird of the sky will bring the sound and the winged creature will tell the matter.

Cast Your Bread on the Waters

Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days. 2 Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what calamity may occur on the earth. 3 If the clouds are full, they empty the rain upon the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies. 4 He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. 5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who works all things. 6 Sow your seed in the morning and do not put your hands down in the evening, for you do not know whether morning or evening sowing will succeed, or whether both of them alike will be good.