Wisdom and Folly Contrasted
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Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
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For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
15 I have seen everything during my (k)(W)lifetime of futility; there is (X)a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is (Y)a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.
16 Do not be excessively (Z)righteous and do not (AA)be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?
17 Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you (AB)die before your time?
18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not (l)let go of the other; for the one who (AC)fears God comes forth with (m)both of them.
19 (AD)Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.
20 Indeed, (AE)there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
21 Also, do not (n)take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant (AF)cursing you.
22 For (o)you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.
23 I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” (AG)but it was far from me.
24 What has been is remote and (AH)exceedingly (p)mysterious. (AI)Who can discover it?
25 I (q)(AJ)directed my (r)mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness.
26 And I discovered more (AK)bitter than death the woman whose heart is (AL)snares and nets, whose hands are chains. (AM)One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but (AN)the sinner will be captured by her.
27 “Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation,
28 which (s)I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a (AO)woman among all these.
29 Behold, I have found only this, that (AP)God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”
Footnotes:
a.
Ecclesiastes 7:2: ['I.e. death']
b.
Ecclesiastes 7:2: ['Lit ', gives]
c.
Ecclesiastes 7:2: ['Lit ', his heart]
d.
Ecclesiastes 7:4: ['Lit ', heart]
e.
Ecclesiastes 7:4: ['Lit ', heart]
f.
Ecclesiastes 7:6: ['Lit ', voice]
g.
Ecclesiastes 7:7: ['Lit ', destroys]
h.
Ecclesiastes 7:9: ['Lit ', hasty in your spirit]
i.
Ecclesiastes 7:12: ['Lit ', in a shadow]
j.
Ecclesiastes 7:12: ['Lit ', in a shadow]
k.
Ecclesiastes 7:15: ['Lit ', days]
l.
Ecclesiastes 7:18: ['Lit ', rest your hand]
m.
Ecclesiastes 7:18: ['Lit ', all]
n.
Ecclesiastes 7:21: ['Lit ', give your heart to]
o.
Ecclesiastes 7:22: ['Lit ', your heart knows also]
p.
Ecclesiastes 7:24: ['Lit ', deep]
q.
Ecclesiastes 7:25: ['Lit ', turned about]
r.
Ecclesiastes 7:25: ['Lit ', heart]
s.
Ecclesiastes 7:28: ['Lit ', my soul still seeks]