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Ecclesiastes 7 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Ecclesiastes 7 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ecclesiastes/7.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" 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id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ecclesiastes/6.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 6">◄</a> Ecclesiastes 7 <a href="../ecclesiastes/8.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 8">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><div class="text-html"> <h3><span id="en" class="text">A Disillusioned View of Life</span></h3><div class="poetry"><p class="line"><span class="chapter-1"><span class="text"><span class="versenum">1</span>A good name is better than precious ointment,</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and the day of death, than the day of birth.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">2</span>It is better to go to the house of mourning</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">than to go to the house of feasting;</span></span><br /><span class="text">for this is the end of everyone,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and the living will lay it to heart.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">3</span>Sorrow is better than laughter,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">4</span>The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">5</span>It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">than to hear the song of fools.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">6</span>For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">so is the laughter of fools;</span></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">this also is vanity.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">7</span>Surely oppression makes the wise foolish,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and a bribe corrupts the heart.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">8</span>Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">9</span>Do not be quick to anger,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">10</span>Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">11</span>Wisdom is as good as an inheritance,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">an advantage to those who see the sun.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">12</span>For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.</span></span><br /><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">13</span>Consider the work of God;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text">who can make straight what he has made crooked?</span></span></p></div> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">14</span>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 mortals may not find out anything that will come after them.</span></p> <h3><span id="en" class="text">The Riddles of Life</span></h3><p><span class="text"><span class="versenum">15</span>In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">16</span>Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself? </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">17</span>Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">18</span>It is good that you should take hold of the one, without letting go of the other; for the one who fears God shall succeed with both.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">19</span>Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">20</span>Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">21</span>Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">22</span>your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.</span></p> <p><span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">23</span>All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">24</span>That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">25</span>I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">26</span>I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">27</span>See, this is what I found, says the Teacher,<span data-fn='#fen' class='footnote' data-link='[<a href="#fen-NRSVCE-19527a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]'>[<a href="#fen" xtitle="See footnote a">a</a>]</span> adding one thing to another to find the sum, </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">28</span>which my mind 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. </span> <span id="en" class="text"><span class="versenum">29</span>See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.</span></p> <A name="fen"></a><div class="footnotes"><h4>Footnotes</h4><ol><li id="fen"><a hlef="#en" xtitle="Go to Ecclesiastes 7:27">Ecclesiastes 7:27</a> <span class='footnote-text'><i>Qoheleth</i>, traditionally rendered <i>Preacher</i></span></li></ol></div> <!--end of footnotes--></div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. 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