Ecclesiastes - Chapter 7 | Good News Translation

  • 1. A good reputation is better than expensive perfume; and the day you die is better than the day you are born.
  • 2. It is better to go to a home where there is mourning than to one where there is a party, because the living should always remind themselves that death is waiting for us all.
  • 3. Sorrow is better than laughter; it may sadden your face, but it sharpens your understanding.
  • 4. Someone who is always thinking about happiness is a fool. A wise person thinks about death.
  • 5. It is better to have wise people reprimand you than to have stupid people sing your praises.
  • 6. When a fool laughs, it is like thorns crackling in a fire. It doesn't mean a thing.
  • 7. You may be wise, but if you cheat someone, you are acting like a fool. If you take a bribe, you ruin your character.
  • 8. The end of something is better than its beginning. Patience is better than pride.
  • 9. Keep your temper under control; it is foolish to harbor a grudge.
  • 10. Never ask, "Oh, why were things so much better in the old days?" It's not an intelligent question.
  • 11. Everyone who lives ought to be wise; it is as good as receiving an inheritance
  • 12. and will give you as much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe---this is the advantage of knowledge.
  • 13. Think about what God has done. How can anyone straighten out what God has made crooked?
  • 14. When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next.
  • 15. My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. Some good people may die while others live on, even though they are evil.
  • 16. So don't be too good or too wise---why kill yourself ?
  • 17. But don't be too wicked or too foolish, either---why die before you have to?
  • 18. Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be successful anyway.
  • 19. Wisdom does more for a person than ten rulers can do for a city.
  • 20. There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.
  • 21. Don't pay attention to everything people say---you may hear your servant insulting you,
  • 22. and you know yourself that you have insulted other people many times.
  • 23. I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me.
  • 24. How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand.
  • 25. But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is.
  • 26. I found something more bitter than death---the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net, and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner.
  • 27. Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers.
  • 28. I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman.
  • 29. This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.
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