What Is Better? |
Ecclesiastes 7:1-29 The Book of Ecclesiastes [in Smaller Chunks] |
A good name is better than precious ointment. And the day of death [is better] than the day of [someone's] birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men. And the living will [take it] to heart. |
Sorrow is better than laughter: for by sadness of the [face,] the [heart's mood] is made better. [2 Corinthians 7:9-10 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your [sorrow] [led] to [remorse.] |
For you were made sorry, after a godly manner, [so] that you might not receive [any] damage [from] us in [anything.] For godly sorrow works [remorse] [that leads] to Salvation, not to be [regretted:] but the sorrow of the world [leads to] death.] |
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of [happiness.] It is better to hear the [correction] of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. |
For [like] the [sound of] crackling thorns [burning] under a pot, so is the [sound of the] laughter of the fool. This is also vanity. Surely oppression makes a wise man [angry] & a [bribe] destroys the heart. [Job 15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be [empty] & fire shall consume the [tents] of bribery.] |
Better is the end of a thing, than the beginning [of it] & [those] patient in spirit [are] better than the proud in spirit. [Don't let] your spirit be [quickly] angry. For anger rests in the [chest] of fools. |
[Don't] say, What [caused the previous] days [to be] better than these? For you don’t inquire wisely [about] this. Wisdom is good with an inheritance & [through wisdom it's beneficial, for those who] see the sun. |
For wisdom & money [are] a defense: but the [advantage] of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to [those who] have it. [Ecclesiastes 9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroys much good.] |
Consider the work of God, for who can make straight, [what] He has made crooked? [On] the day of prosperity, be joyful, but [on] the day of adversity [contemplate:] God has also [put in a scale] the one, [a.k.a. prosperity] over, [next to] the other, [a.k.a. adversity,] to the end, that man should [foresee] nothing [that shall happen] after him. |
[During] the days of my vanity & all the things I've seen: there is a just man, [who] perishes in his righteousness & there is a wicked man, [who] prolongs his life in his wickedness. |
[Ecclesiastes 8:14 There is a vanity, which is done upon the earth: that there [are] just men, to whom it happens, according to the work of the wicked. Again, there [are] wicked men, to whom it happens, according to the work of the righteous. I said that this is also vanity.] |
[Don’t] be [overly] righteous & neither make yourself [overly] wise. Why should you destroy yourself? [Don't] be [overly] wicked & neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is good that you should take [stock] of this. [Yes,] also [don't] withdraw your hand, for he, [who] fears [respects] God, shall come [forward out] of them all. |
[Ecclesiastes 8:12 [Although] a sinner [does] evil 100 times & his days are prolonged, yet [truly] I know that it shall [go] well [for those who] fear [respect] God & fear before Him.] |
Wisdom strengthens the wise more than 10 mighty men, [who] are in the city. [Colossians 1:9 Since the day we heard it, we also, for this [reason,] don't [stop from praying] for you & desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of [God's] will in all wisdom & spiritual understanding.] |
For there isn't a just man upon the earth, [who] does good & doesn't sin. Also, [don't pay attention] to all the words that are spoken: lest you hear your servant curse you. For your own heart also knows that you have [often, similarly] cursed others. I have [tested] all this by wisdom. I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. |
Who can [figure] it out, that which is far [away & exceedingly] deep? I applied [my] heart to seek, to search & to know [what is] wisdom & the reason [for] things & the wickedness of folly, even foolishness & [insanity.] And [what] I find more bitter than death [is] the woman, whose heart is [plots of:] [traps] & nets & her hands [are] [like chains.] |
[Whoever] pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be [captured] by her. [Look,] I have found this, says the preacher, counting 1 by 1, to find out the [total captured.] |
[What] my soul [still] seeks, but I [can't] find. I have found 1 [wise] man among 1,000, but I haven't found a woman among all those. [Look,] I have only found this, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many [schemes.] |
[Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful & desperately wicked above all things. Who [could] know it? I, the Lord, search the heart & I [test] the [heart strings,] even to give [to] every man according to his ways & according to the fruit of his [actions.] |