Home Prior Books Index
←Prev   Ecclesiates 7 as rendered by/in  Next→ 

Did you notice?
 You can SEARCH IslamAwakened: 

7:1  A good reputation is better than the best perfume, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of his birth.
7:2  Better to go to a funeral than to a feast, since death is the final destination for all mankind. The living must take this to heart!
7:3  Grief is better than laughter, because a sad face does a heart good.
7:4  The hearts of the wise think about the funeral, but the hearts of fools think about the feast.
7:5  It is better to hear a rebuke from a wise man than to listen to a happy song from fools,
7:6  for the fool’s laughter sounds like thorns crackling under a cooking pot. This too is vapor.
7:7  To be sure, oppressing others turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts his heart.
7:8  It is better to finish something than to begin something. A patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.
7:9  Do not be quick to lose your temper, for outrage is embraced by fools.
7:10  Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” Wisdom would not lead you to ask such a question.
7:11  Wisdom along with an inheritance is good. It is an advantage for those who see the sun,
7:12  because wisdom gives shade as money gives shade, but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps its owner alive.
7:13  Look at the work of God. Indeed, who can straighten what he has bent?
7:14  On a good day, enjoy the good, but on a bad day, consider carefully. God has made the one as well as the other, so no man can find out about anything that will come later.
7:15  During my days that vanish like vapor, I have seen it all. For instance, a righteous man perishes despite being righteous, while an evil man lives for a long time in spite of his evil.
7:16  Do not be overly righteous. Do not trust too much in wisdom. Why ruin yourself?
7:17  Do not be overly wicked, either, and do not be a fool. Why die before your time?
7:18  It is good that you hang on to one alternative, but do not let go of the other, for one who fears God will avoid both extremes.
7:19  Wisdom makes one wise man stronger than ten rulers who are in the city.
7:20  There is surely not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.
7:21  Furthermore, do not take to heart all the words people say, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you.
7:22  Yes, you know in your heart that many times you too have cursed others.
7:23  All this I tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was out of reach for me.
7:24  What has already happened is out of reach, and deeper than deep. Who can find it?
7:25  I turned my heart to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, and to find out how things fit together, and to know that wickedness is foolishness and stupidity is madness.
7:26  I kept finding out that a woman whose heart is a trap is more bitter than death. Her heart is a hunter’s net. Her hands are chains. The man whom God recognizes as good will escape from her, but the sinner gets trapped by her.
7:27  “Look,” says Ecclesiastes, “this is what I found by adding one thing to another in my attempts to find how things fit together—
7:28  this is something my soul keeps seeking but has not found. One man out of a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
7:29  “Look, I have found only this: I have found that God made mankind upright, but they have gone off looking for many schemes.”