50 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
50 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 7
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1 A good name is better than fine perfume,
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and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
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2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
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than to go to a house of feasting,
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since that is the end of all mankind,
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and the living should take it to heart.
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3 Grief is better than laughter,
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for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.
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4 The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,
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but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.
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5 It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
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than to listen to the song of fools,
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6 for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot,
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so is the laughter of the fool.
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This too is futile.
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7 Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool,
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and a bribe corrupts the mind.
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8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
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a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.
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9 Don’t let your spirit rush to be angry,
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for anger abides in the heart of fools.
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10 Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
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since it is not wise of you to ask this.
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11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
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and an advantage to those who see the sun,
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12 because wisdom is protection as silver is protection;
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but the advantage of knowledge
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is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
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13 Consider the work of God,
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for who can straighten out
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what he has made crooked?
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14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that no one can discover anything that will come after him.
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15 In my futile life I have seen everything: someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil.
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16 Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
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17 Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time?
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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.
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19 Wisdom makes the wise person stronger
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than ten rulers of a city.
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20 There is certainly no one righteous on the earth
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who does good and never sins.
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21 Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you,
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22 for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.
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23 I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me.
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24 What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it?
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25 I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness.
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26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap: her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
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27 “Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation,
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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.
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29 Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.” |