Ecclesiastes 7:14-29

14 1In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, 2so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
15 In my 3vain life I have seen everything. There is 4a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who 5prolongs his life in his evildoing.
16 Be not overly righteous, and do not 6make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. 7Why should you die before your time?
18 It is good that you should take hold of 8this, and from 9that 10withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.
19 11Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
20 Surely 12there 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 13your servant cursing you.
22 Your heart knows that 14many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I have tested by wisdom. 15I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me.
24 That which has been is far off, and 16deep, very deep; 17who can find it out?
25 18I 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 19bitter than death: 20the woman whose heart is 21snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but 22the sinner is taken by her.
27 Behold, this is what I found, says 23the 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. 24One man among a thousand I found, but 25a woman among all these I have not found.
29 See, this alone I found, that 26God made man upright, but 27they have sought out many schemes.

Cross References 27

  • 1. [Ecclesiastes 3:4, 22; Deuteronomy 28:47]
  • 2. [Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 6:12]
  • 3. Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 9:9
  • 4. See Ecclesiastes 8:14
  • 5. Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13
  • 6. [Romans 12:3]
  • 7. [Proverbs 10:27]; See Job 22:16
  • 8. [ver. 17]
  • 9. [ver. 16]
  • 10. Ecclesiastes 11:6
  • 11. Ecclesiastes 9:16, 18; Proverbs 21:22; Proverbs 24:5
  • 12. See 1 Kings 8:46
  • 13. Proverbs 30:10
  • 14. [Galatians 6:1]
  • 15. [Romans 1:22]
  • 16. [Romans 11:33]
  • 17. Job 28:12, 20; [1 Timothy 6:16]
  • 18. See Ecclesiastes 1:17
  • 19. Proverbs 5:4
  • 20. See Proverbs 2:16
  • 21. Proverbs 12:12; [Proverbs 23:28]
  • 22. Proverbs 22:14
  • 23. See Ecclesiastes 1:1
  • 24. Job 33:23; [ver. 20]
  • 25. [1 Kings 11:3]
  • 26. [Genesis 1:27]
  • 27. [Genesis 3:6, 7]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.