Ecclesiastes 9-12

Ecclesiastes 9

¹For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this; that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.

²All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

⁴For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

⁶As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

⁷Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works.

⁸Let thy garments be always white; and let not thy head lack ointment.

⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherein thou labourest under the sun.

¹⁰Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

¹¹I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but fame and chance happeneth to them all.

¹²For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so, are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

¹³I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:

¹⁴There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:

¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

¹⁶Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

¹⁷The words of the wise spoken in quiet are heard more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.

Ecclesiastes 10

¹Dead flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly outweigh wisdom and honour.

²A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.

³Yea also, when the fool walketh by the way, his understanding faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

⁴If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding allayeth great offences.

⁵There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which proceedeth from the ruler:

⁶folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.

⁷I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

⁸He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a fence, a serpent shall bite him.

⁹Whoso heweth out stones shall be hurt therewith; and he that cleaveth wood is endangered thereby.

¹⁰If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.

¹¹If the serpent bite before it be charmed, then is there no advantage in the charmer.

¹²The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

¹³The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is mischievous madness.

¹⁴A fool also multiplieth words: yet man knoweth not what shall be; and that which shall be after him, who can tell him?

¹⁵The labour of fools wearieth every one of them, for he knoweth not how to go to the city.

¹⁶Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!

¹⁷Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

¹⁸By slothfulness the roof sinketh in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaketh.

¹⁹A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh glad the life: and money answereth all things.

²⁰Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Ecclesiastes 11

¹Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.

²Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

³If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if a tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be.

⁴He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

⁵As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth all.

⁶In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

⁷Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.

⁸Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

⁹Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

¹⁰Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for youth and the prime of life are vanity.

Ecclesiastes 12

¹Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, or ever the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

²or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain:

³in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

⁴and the door shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

⁵yea, they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and the caper-berry shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

⁶or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern;

⁷and the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it.

⁸Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.

⁹And further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he pondered, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

¹⁰The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly, even words of truth.

¹¹The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened are the words of the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.

¹²And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

¹³This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁴For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.