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7 A good name is better than fine perfume,aa
and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.ab
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
since that is the end of all mankind,
and the living should take it to heart.ac
3 Grief is better than laughter,
for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.ad
4 The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.
5 It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools,ae
6 for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot,af
so is the laughter of the fool.
7 Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool,a
and a bribe corrupts the mind.b
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.c
9 Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry,
for anger abides in the heart of fools.d
10 Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”e
since it is not wise of you to ask this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
and an advantage to those who see the sun,
12 because wisdom is protection as silver is protection;
but the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.f
13 Consider the work of God,g
for who can straighten out
what he has made crooked?h
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful,i but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other,j so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.
15 In my futile lifeA I have seen everything:k someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness,l and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil.m 16 Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise.n Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time?o 18 It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.
19 Wisdom makes the wise person stronger
than ten rulers of a city.p
20 There is certainly no one righteous on the earth
who does good and never sins.q
21 Don’t pay attentionB to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you,r 22 for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. 24 What exists is beyond reach and very deep.s Who can discover it? 25 I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdomt and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26 And I find more bitter than deathu the woman who is a trap:v her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27 “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28 which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman.w 29 Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright,x but they pursued many schemes.”
WISDOM, AUTHORITIES, AND INEQUITIES
8 Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.y
2 KeepC the king’s command because of your oath made before God.z 3 Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence,aa and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. 4 For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”ab 5 The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful,ac and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. 6 For every activity there is a right time and procedure,ad even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him. 7 Yet no one knows what will happenae because who can tell him what will happen? 8 No one has authority over the windA to restrain it,af and there is no authority over the day of death;ag no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. 9 All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.
10 In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place,a and they were praisedB in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. 11 Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly,b the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. 12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life,c I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people,d for they are reverent before him. 13 However, it will not go well with the wicked,e and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow,f for they are not reverent before God.
14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve,g and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve.h I say that this too is futile. 15 So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself,i for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdomj and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), 17 I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it;k even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.
9 Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.l People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. 2 Everything is the same for everyone:m There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked,n for the good and the bad,C for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live;o after that they go to the dead. 4 But there is hope for whoever is joinedA with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.p 6 Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.q 8 Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head.r 9 Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleetingB life,s which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your strugglet under the sun. 10 Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength,u because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdomv in Sheol where you are going.
11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,w or the battle to the strong,x or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them. 12 For certainly no one knows his time:y like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap,z so people are trapped in an evil timeaa as it suddenly falls on them.ab
13 I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me: 14 There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it. 15 Now a poor wise man was found in the city,ac and he delivered the city by his wisdom.ad Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength,ae but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”
17 The calm words of the wise are heeded
more than the shouts of a ruler over fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner can destroy much good.af
10 Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil ferment and stink;a
so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
2 A wise person’s heart goes to theC right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.
3 Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense,
and he shows everyone he is a fool.b
4 If the ruler’s anger rises against you, don’t leave your post,c
for calmness puts great offenses to rest.d
5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, an error proceeding from the presence of the ruler:
6 The fool is appointed to great heights,e
but the rich remain in lowly positions.
7 I have seen slaves on horses,f
but princes walking on the ground like slaves.g
8 The one who digs a pit may fall into it,h
and the one who breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.i
9 The one who quarries stones may be hurt by them;
the one who splits logs may be endangered by them.
10 If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge,
then one must exert more strength;
however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.
11 If the snake bites before it is charmed,j
then there is no advantage for the charmer.A
12 The words from the mouth of a wise person are gracious,k
but the lips of a fool consume him.l
13 The beginning of the words from his mouth is folly,
but the end of his speaking is evil madness;
14 yet the fool multiplies words.
No one knows what will happen,
and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?m
15 The struggles of fools weary them,
for they don’t know how to go to the city.
16 Woe to you, land, when your king is a youthn
and your princes feast in the morning.
17 Blessed are you, land, when your king is a son of nobles
and your princes feast at the proper time—
for strength and not for drunkenness.o
18 Because of laziness the roof caves in,
and because of negligent hands the house leaks.
19 A feast is prepared for laughter,
and wine makes life happy,p
and moneyB is the answer for everything.q
20 Do not curse the king even in your thoughts,r
and do not curse a rich person even in your bedroom,s
for a bird of the sky may carry the message,
and a winged creature may report the matter.
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About Christian Standard BibleThe Christian Standard Bible (CSB) is a highly trustworthy, faithful translation that is proven to be the optimal blend of accuracy and readability. It’s as literal to the original as possible without sacrificing clarity. The CSB is poised to become the translation that pastors rely on and Bible readers turn to again and again to read and to share with others. The CSB is an original translation: more than 100 scholars from 17 denominations translated directly from the best available Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic source texts into English. Its source texts are the standard used by scholars and seminaries today. The CSB is trustworthy: the conservative, evangelical scholars of the CSB affirm the authority of Scripture as the inerrant Word of God and seek the highest level of faithfulness to the original and accuracy in their translation. These scholars and LifeWay, the non-profit ministry that stewards the CSB, also champion the Bible against cultural trends that would compromise its truths. The CSB is clear: it is as literal a translation of the ancient source texts as possible, but, in the many places throughout Scripture where a word-for-word rendering might obscure the meaning for a modern audience, it uses a more dynamic translation. In all cases, the intent is to convey the original meaning of God’s Word as faithfully and as clearly as possible. |
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Copyright 2017 Holman Bible Publishers. CSB UltraThin Reference Bible Copyright © 2020 by Holman Bible Publishers. All Rights Reserved. The text of the Christian Standard Bible may be quoted in any form (written, visual, electronic, or audio) up to and inclusive of one-thousand (1,000) verses without the written permission of the publisher, provided that the verses quoted do not account for more than 50 percent of the work in which they are quoted, and provided that a complete book of the Bible is not quoted. Requests for permission are to be directed to and approved in writing by Holman Bible Publishers, One LifeWay Plaza, Nashville, Tennessee 37234. When the Christian Standard Bible is quoted, one of the following credit lines must appear on the copyright page or title page of the work: Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2020 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2020 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers. |
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