17k-Be not overeager to go-k to the House of God: more acceptable is obedience than the offering of fools, for they know nothing [but] to do wrong.
5 Keep your mouth from being rash, and let not your throata be quick to bring forth speech before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth; that is why your words should be few. 2Just as dreams come with much brooding, so does foolish utterance come with much speech. 3When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. For He has no pleasure in fools; what you vow, fulfill. 4It is better not to vow at all than to vow and not fulfill. 5Don’t let your mouth bring you into disfavor, and don’t plead before the messengerb that it was an error, c-but fear God;-c else God may be angered by your talk and destroy your possessions. 6dFor much dreaming leads to futility and to superfluous talk.
7If you see in a province oppression of the poor and suppression of right and justice, don’t wonder at the fact; for one high official is protected by a higher one, and both of them by still higher ones. 8Thus the greatest advantage in all the land is his: he controls a field that is cultivated.e
9A lover of money never has his fill of money, nor a lover of wealth his fill of income. That too is futile. 10As his substance increases, so do those who consume it; what, then, does the success of its owner amount to but feasting his eyes? 11A worker’sf sleep is sweet, whether he has much or little to eat; but the rich man’s abundance doesn’t let him sleep.
12Here is a grave evil I have observed under the sun: riches hoarded by their owner to his misfortune, 13in that those riches are lost in some unlucky venture; and if he begets a son, he has nothing in hand.
14g-Another grave evil is this: He must depart just as he came.-g As he came out of his mother’s womb, so must he depart at last, naked as he came. He can take nothing of his wealth to carry with him. 15So what is the good of his toiling for the wind? 16Besides, all his days h-he eats in darkness,-h with much vexation and grief and anger.
17Only this, I have found, is a real good: that one should eat and drink and get pleasure with all the gains he makes under the sun, during the numbered days of life that God has given him; for that is his portion. 18Also, whenever a man is given riches and property by God, and is also permitted by Him to enjoy them and to take his portion and get pleasure for his gains—that is a gift of God. 19For [such a man] will not brood much over the days of his life,i because God keeps him busy enjoying himself.
6 There is an evil I have observed under the sun, and a grave one it is for man: 2that God sometimes grants a man riches, property, and wealth, so that he does not want for anything his appetite may crave, but God does not permit him to enjoy it; instead, a stranger will enjoy it. That is futility and a grievous ill. 3Even if a man should beget a hundred children and live many years—no matter how many the days of his years may come to, if his gullet is not sated through his wealth, I say: The stillbirth, though it was not even accorded a burial,a is more fortunate than he. 4Though it comes into futility and departs into darkness, and its very name is covered with darkness, 5though it has never seen or experienced the sun, it is better off than he—6yes, even if the other lived a thousand years twice over but never had his fill of enjoyment! For are not both of them bound for the same place? 7bAll of man’s earning is for the sake of his mouth, c-yet his gullet is not sated. 8What advantage then has the wise man over the fool, what advantage has the pauper who knows how to get on in life?-c 9dIs the feasting of the eyes more important than the pursuit of desire? That, too, is futility and pursuit of wind.
10Whatever happens, it was designated long ago and it was known that it would happen; as for man, he cannot contend with what is stronger than he. 11Often, much talk means much futility. How does it benefit a man? 12Who can possibly know what is best for a man to do in life—the few days of his fleeting life? Fore who can tell him what the future holds for him under the sun?
7 aA good name is better than fragrant oil, and the day of death than the day of birth.b
2It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting; for that is the end of every man, and a living one should take it to heart.
3Vexation is better than revelry;c for though the face be sad, the heart may be glad. 4Wise men are drawn to a house of mourning, and fools to a house of merrymaking.
5It is better to listen to a wise man’s reproof than to listen to the praise of fools. 6For the levityd of the fool is like the crackling of nettles under a kettle. eBut that too is illusory; 7for cheatingf may rob the wise man of reason and destroy the prudence of the cautious.g
8The end of a matter is better than the beginning of it.
Better a patient spirit than a haughty spirit.
9Don’t let your spirit be quickly vexed, for vexation abides in the breasts of fools.
10Don’t say, “How has it happened that former times were better than these?” For it is not wise of you to ask that question.
11Wisdom is as good as a patrimony, and even better, for those who behold the sun. 12For to be in the shelter of wisdom is to be also in the shelter of money,h and the advantage of intelligence is that wisdom preserves the life of him who possesses it.
13iConsider God’s doing! Who can straighten what He has twisted? 14So in a time of good fortune enjoy the good fortune; and in a time of misfortune, reflect: The one no less than the other was God’s doing; consequently, man may find no fault with Him.j
15In my own brief span of life, I have seen both these things: sometimes a good man perishes in spite of his goodness, and sometimes a wicked one endures in spite of his wickedness. 16So don’t overdo goodness and don’t act the wise man to excess, or you may be dumfounded. 17Don’t overdo wickedness and don’t be a fool, or you may die before your time. 18It is best that you grasp the one without letting go of the other, for one who fears God will do his dutyk by both.
19Wisdom is more of a stronghold to a wise man than l-ten magnates-l that a city may contain.
20mFor there is not one good man on earth who does what is bestn and doesn’t err.
21Finally, don’t pay attention to everything that is said, so that you may not hear your slave reviling you; 22for well you remembero the many times that you yourself have reviled others.
23All this I tested with wisdom. I thought I could fathom it,n but it eludes me. 24[The secret of] what happens is elusive and deep, deep down; who can discover it? 25I put my mind to studying, exploring, and seeking wisdom and the reason of things, and to studying wickedness, stupidity, madness, and folly. 26Now, I find woman more bitter than death; she is all traps, her hands are fetters and her heart is snares. He who is pleasing to God escapes her, and he who is displeasing is caught by her. 27See, this is what I found, said Koheleth, item by item in my search for the reason of things. 28As for what I sought further but did not find, I found only one human being in a thousand, and the one I found among so many was never a woman.
29But, see, this I did find: God made men plain, but they have engaged in too much reasoning.
8 a-Who is like the wise man,-a and who knows the meaning of the adage:
“A man’s wisdom lights up his face,
So that his deep discontentb is dissembled”?
2I do! “Obey the king’s orders—and c-don’t rush-c into uttering an oath by God.”d 3e-Leave his presence; do not tarry-e in a dangerous situation, for he can do anything he pleases; 4inasmuch as a king’s command is authoritative, and none can say to him, “What are you doing?” 5One who obeys orders will not suffer from the dangerous situation.
A wise man, however, will bear in mindf that there is a time of doom.g 6For there is a time for every experience, including the doom; for a man’s calamityh overwhelms him. 7Indeed, he does not know what is to happen; even when it is on the point of happening, who can tell him? 8No man has authority over the lifebreath—to hold back the lifebreath;i
