Prediger 7,28 | New International Reader’s Version

Good advice about how to live

1 A good name is better than fine perfume. People can learn more from mourning when someone dies than from being happy when someone is born. 2 So it’s better to go where people are mourning than to go where people are having a good time. Everyone will die someday. Those who are still living should really think about that. 3 Not being able to figure things out is better than laughter. That’s because sorrow is good for the heart. 4 Those who are wise are found where there is sorrow. But foolish people are found where there is pleasure. 5 Pay attention to a wise person’s warning. That’s better than listening to the songs of those who are foolish. 6 A foolish person’s laughter is like the crackling of thorns burning under a pot. That doesn’t have any meaning either. 7 When a wise person takes wealth by force, they become foolish. It is sinful to take money from people who want special favours. 8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning. So it’s better to be patient than proud. 9 Don’t become angry quickly. Anger lives in the hearts of foolish people. 10 Don’t say, ‘Why were things better in the good old days?’ It isn’t wise to ask that kind of question. 11 Wisdom is a good thing. It’s like getting a share of the family wealth. It benefits those who live on this earth. 12 Wisdom provides safety, just as money provides safety. But here’s the advantage of wisdom. It guards those who have it. 13 Think about what God has done. Who can make straight what he has made crooked? 14 When times are good, be happy. But when times are bad, here’s something to think about. God has made bad times. He has also made good times. So no one can find out anything about what’s ahead for them. 15 In my meaningless life here’s what I’ve seen. I’ve seen godly people dying even though they are godly. And I’ve seen sinful people living a long time even though they are sinful. 16 Don’t claim to be better than you are. And don’t claim to be wiser than you are. Why destroy yourself? 17 Don’t be too sinful. And don’t be foolish. Why die before your time comes? 18 It’s good to hold on to both of those things. Don’t let go of either one. Whoever has respect for God will avoid going too far in either direction. 19 Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city. 20 It is true that there isn’t anyone on earth who does only what is right and never sins. 21 Don’t pay attention to everything people say. If you do, you might hear your servant cursing you. 22 Many times you yourself have cursed others. Deep down inside, you know that’s true. 23 I used wisdom to test all these things. I said, ‘I’ve made up my mind to be wise.’ But it was more than I could accomplish. 24 Whatever exists is far away and very deep. Who can find it? 25 So I tried to understand wisdom more completely. I wanted to study it and figure it out. I tried to find out everything I could about it. I tried to understand why it’s foolish to be evil. I wanted to see why choosing foolishness is so unwise. 26 A woman who hunts a man down is more painful than death. Her heart is like a trap. Her hands are like chains. A man who pleases God will try to get away from her. But she will trap a sinner. 27 ‘Look’, says the Teacher. ‘Here’s what I’ve discovered. ‘I added one thing to another to find out everything I could about wisdom. 28 I searched and searched but found very little. I did find one honest man among a thousand. But I didn’t find one honest woman among a thousand. 29 Here’s the only other thing I found. God created human beings as honest. But they’ve made many evil plans.’

English Standard Version

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly

1 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. 4 The 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 for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. 6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fools; this also is vanity.* 7 Surely oppression drives the wise into madness, and a bribe corrupts the heart. 8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart* of fools. 10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. 11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. 12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. 13 Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. 15 In my vain* life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them. 19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. 20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. 21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others. 23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? 25 I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. 26 And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. 27 Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— 28 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

Prediger 7,28 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Good advice about how to live

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly