Ecclesiastes 7
1 [Having] a good reputation [MTY] is better than fine perfume, and the day that we die is better than the day that we are born.
A good name is better than oil of great price, and the day of death than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house where people are mourning [about someone who has died] than to go to a house where people are feasting, because everyone will die some day, and people who are alive should think seriously [IDM] about that.
It is better to go to the house of weeping, than to go to the house of feasting; because that is the end of every man, and the living will take it to their hearts.
3 It is better to be sad than to be [always] laughing, because being sad can cause us to think more about how we should conduct our lives [IDM].
Sorrow is better than joy; when the face is sad the mind gets better.
4 Wise [people] who go to where others are mourning think about [the fact that some day they also will] die, but foolish people [PRS] [do not think about that]; they are always [MTY] laughing.
The hearts of the wise are in the house of weeping; but the hearts of the foolish are in the house of joy.
5 It is better to pay attention to [someone who is wise] you than to listen to the songs of a foolish person.
It is better to take note of the protest of the wise, than for a man to give ear to the song of the foolish.
6 By [listening to] foolish people laughing we will not [learn any more than by listening to] the crackling of thorns [being burned] under a pot. Listening to fools is senseless.
Like the cracking of thorns under a pot, so is the laugh of a foolish man; and this again is to no purpose.
7 When wise people say to others, “You must pay me a lot of money for me to protect you,” that causes those wise people to become foolish, and [accepting] bribes causes people to become unable to do what is fair/just.
The wise are troubled by the ways of the cruel, and the giving of money is the destruction of the heart.
8 Finishing something is better than starting something, and being patient is better than being proud.
The end of a thing is better than its start, and a gentle spirit is better than pride.
9 Do not quickly (lose your temper/react to things angrily), because it is foolish people [SYN] who become very angry.
Be not quick to let your spirit be angry; because wrath is in the heart of the foolish.
10 Do not say, “Things were a lot better [RHQ] previously,” because it is people who are not wise who say that.
Say not, Why were the days which have gone by better than these? Such a question comes not from wisdom.
11 Being wise is better than inheriting [valuable things]; being wise provides lasting benefits for every person on the earth [MTY].
Wisdom together with a heritage is good, and a profit to those who see the sun.
12 We are [sometimes] protected by being wise like we are [sometimes] protected by having a lot of money, but being wise is better [than having a lot of money], [because] being wise prevents us from [doing foolish things that would] cause us to die.
Wisdom keeps a man from danger even as money does; but the value of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owner.
13 Think [carefully about] what God has done. Certainly no one can [RHQ] cause to become straight the things that God has caused to be crooked.
Give thought to the work of God. Who will make straight what he has made bent?
14 When things are going well for you, be happy, and when things are not going well for you, remember that God is the one who causes good things to happen and who also causes disasters.
In the day of wealth have joy, but in the day of evil take thought: God has put the one against the other, so that man may not be certain what will be after him.
15 During all the time that I have been alive I have seen a lot of [HYP] things that seem senseless. I have seen righteous people die [while they are still young], and I have seen wicked people remain alive for a very long time in [spite of] their continuing to be wicked.
These two have I seen in my life which is to no purpose: a good man coming to his end in his righteousness, and an evil man whose days are long in his evil-doing.
16 [So] do not think that you are very righteous and do not think that you are very wise, [because if you think those things], you will destroy yourself.
Be not given overmuch to righteousness and be not over-wise. Why let destruction come on you?
17 If you do what is evil or do what is foolish, you might die while you are still young.
Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time?
18 Continue to avoid doing what is evil and doing what is foolish; avoid doing both of those things by continually revering God.
It is good to take this in your hand and not to keep your hand from that; he who has the fear of God will be free of the two.
19 If you are wise, you will be more powerful/influential than the ten most powerful/influential men in your city.
Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a town.
20 There is no one in this world who [always] does what is right and who never sins.
There is no man on earth of such righteousness that he does good and is free from sin all his days.
21 Do not pay attention [IDM] to everything that people say, because if you do that, you might hear your servant cursing you.
Do not give ear to all the words which men say, for fear of hearing the curses of your servant.
22 You know that you have also cursed other people.
Your heart has knowledge how frequently others have been cursed by you.
23 I said [to myself] that I would use my wisdom to study all the things [that I have written about], but I was not able to do it successfully.
All this I have put to the test by wisdom; I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.
24 Wisdom seems to be far from me; there is no one [RHQ] who can truly understand everything.
Far off is true existence, and very deep; who may have knowledge of it?
25 But I decided to investigate things and by my wisdom try to understand the reason for everything. I also wanted to understand why people act wickedly and why they act very foolishly.
I gave my mind to knowledge and to searching for wisdom and the reason of things, and to the discovery that sin is foolish, and that to be foolish is to be without one's senses.
26 [One thing I learned was that] (allowing a woman to seduce you/having sex with a woman to whom you are not married) is worse than dying. A woman who tries to seduce men is [as dangerous as] a trap [MET]. [If you allow her to put] her arms [around you, it will be as though she will be fastening you with] chains. Women like that will capture sinful men, but men who please God will escape from such women.
And I saw a thing more bitter than death, even the woman whose heart is full of tricks and nets, and whose hands are as bands. He with whom God is pleased will get free from her, but the sinner will be taken by her.
27 This is what I have learned: I tried to learn more and more about things to try to find out the reason for everything,
Look! this I have seen, said the Preacher, taking one thing after another to get the true account,
28 and I continued to try to learn more, but I could not find [all that I was searching for]. [But] one thing that I found out was that among 1,000 [people] I found one righteous man, but I did not find even one righteous woman.
For which my soul is still searching, but I have it not; one man among a thousand have I seen; but a woman among all these I have not seen.
29 [But] I did learn one thing: When God created people, they were righteous, but they have found many ways to do many evil things.
This only have I seen, that God made men upright, but they have been searching out all sorts of inventions.
