KJ3 Literal Translation
Ecclesiastes 7
Remedies against vanity are; a good name, mortification, patience, wisdom.
1A good name is better than good oil; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for it is the end of every man; and the living will lay it to his heart.
3Grief is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.
4The heart of the wise ones is in the house of mourning; but the heart of the fool is in the house of mirth.
5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise ones than for a man to hear the song of fools.
6For as the sound of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. And this also is vanity.
7For oppression makes a wise man mad; and a bribe destroys the heart.
8Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9Do not hasten to be angry in your spirit; for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
10Do not say, Why was it that the former days were better than these? For you do not ask from wisdom concerning this.
11Wisdom is good with an inheritance; yea, an advantage to those who see the sun.
12For wisdom is in a shadow; and silver is in a shadow; but the profit of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its possessors.
13Consider the work of God; for who can make that straight which He has bent?
14On the good day, be in good spirit, but also consider in the evil day, that God has made this one along with this one, so that man should not find anything after him.
15All things I have seen in the days of my vanity; there is a just one who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked one who prolongs his life in his evil.
16Do not be too much a righteous one, nor make yourself overly wise; why destroy yourself?
17Do not be a very wicked one, and do not be a fool; why should you die and it not be your time?
18It is good that you should take hold of this; yea, also from this do not let your hand rest; for he who fears God shall come forth with all of them.
19Wisdom makes the wise one stronger than ten rulers who are in the city.
20For there is not a just one on the earth who does good, and does not sin.
21Also, do not give your heart to all the words they speak, that you not hear your servant cursing you.
22For also your own heart knows that you yourself have also cursed others many times.
23All this I have tested by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
24What is far off and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
25And I turned my heart about, to know, and to search out, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, and the foolishness of madness:
26and I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets; her hands are bonds. A good man before God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be captured by her.
27Behold, this I have found, says the Preacher, counting one by one to find out the sum,
28that my soul still seeks, but I have not found; one man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
29See, this only I have found, that God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.
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