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Ecclesiastes 7 :: New American Standard Bible 2020 (NASB20)

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Wisdom and Foolishness Contrasted

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:1 -

A good name is better than good [fn]oil,

And the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:2 -

It is better to go to a house of mourning

Than to go to a house of feasting,

Because [fn]that is the end of every person,

And the living [fn]takes it to [fn]heart.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:3 -

Sorrow is better than laughter,

For when a face is sad a heart may be happy.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:4 -

The [fn]mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,

While the [fn]mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:5 -

It is better to listen to the rebuke of a wise person

Than for one to listen to the song of fools.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:6 -

For as the [fn]crackling of thorn bushes under a pot,

So is the laughter of the fool;

And this too is futility.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:7 -

For oppression makes a wise person look foolish,

And a bribe [fn]corrupts the heart.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:8 -

The end of a matter is better than its beginning;

Patience of spirit is better than arrogance of spirit.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:9 -

Do not be [fn]eager in your spirit to be angry,

For anger resides in the [fn]heart of fools.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:10 -

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.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:11 -

Wisdom along with an inheritance is good,

And an advantage to those who see the sun.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:12 -

For wisdom is [fn]protection just as money is [fn]protection,

But the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps its possessors alive.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:13 -

Consider the work of God,

For who is able to straighten what He has bent?

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:14 -

On the day of prosperity be happy,

But on the day of adversity consider:

God has made the one as well as the other

So that a person will not discover anything that will come after him.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:15 -

I have seen everything during my [fn]lifetime of futility; there is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:16 - Do not be excessively righteous, and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:17 - Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you die [fn]before your time?
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:18 - It is good that you grasp one thing while not [fn]letting go of the other; for one who fears God comes out with [fn]both of them.
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:19 -

Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:20 - Indeed, there is not a righteous person on earth who always does good and does not ever sin.
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:21 - Also, do not [fn]take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you,
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:22 - for [fn]you know that even you have cursed others many times as well.
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:23 -

I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but wisdom was far from me.

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:24 - What has been is remote and very [fn]mysterious. Who can discover it?
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:25 - I [fn]directed my [fn]mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity.
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:26 - And I discovered as more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:27 -

“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “by adding one thing to another to find an explanation,

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:28 - which [fn]I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these.
Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 7:29 - “Behold, I have found only this, that God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
NASB20 Footnotes
I.e., olive oil
I.e., death
Lit gives
Lit his heart
Lit heart
Lit heart
Lit voice
Lit destroys
Lit hasty
Lit chest
Lit in a shadow
Lit in a shadow
Lit days
Lit when not your time
Lit resting your hand
Lit all of them
Lit give your heart to
Lit your heart knows
Lit deep
Lit turned about
Lit heart
Lit my soul still seeks
NASB20

New American Standard Bible 2020
Copyright (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
All rights reserved
https://www.lockman.org/new-american-standard-bible-nasb/

The "NASB," "NAS," "New American Standard Bible," and "New American Standard" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by The Lockman Foundation. Use of these trademarks requires the permission of The Lockman Foundation.

For Permission To Quote visit http://www.lockman.org

For more information on this translation, see the NASB20 Preface.

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