Listen to this passage

Ecclesiastes 7

 ¹A good name is better than precious ointment; 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 that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

 ³Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

 ⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

 ⁵It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.

 ⁶For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.

 ⁷Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

 ⁸Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

 ⁹Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

 ¹⁰Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

 ¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.

 ¹²For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.

 ¹³Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

 ¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

 ¹⁵All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

 ¹⁶Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself ?

 ¹⁷Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?

 ¹⁸It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.

 ¹⁹Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.

 ²⁰For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

 ²¹Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:

 ²²For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.

 ²³All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

 ²⁴That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?

 ²⁵I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

 ²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

 ²⁷Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:

 ²⁸Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.

 ²⁹Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Ecclesiastes 8

 ¹Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.

 ²I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.

 ³Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

 ⁴Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

 ⁵Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

 ⁶Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.

 ⁷For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

 ⁸There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

 ⁹All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

 ¹⁰And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

 ¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

 ¹²Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

 ¹³But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

 ¹⁴There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

 ¹⁵Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

 ¹⁶When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

 ¹⁷Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

Ecclesiastes 9

 ¹For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that 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 among all things that are 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 to 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.

 ⁶Also their love, and 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 now accepteth thy works.

 ⁸Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no 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 this life, and in thy labour which thou takest 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 time 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; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

 ¹³This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, 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 wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

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

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

 ⁸For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

 ⁹Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

 ¹⁰For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

 ¹¹For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

 ¹²Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.

 ¹³Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.

 ¹⁴For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth.

 ¹⁵And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.

 ¹⁶I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

Psalm 48

 ¹Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

 ²Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

 ³God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

 ⁴For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.

 ⁵They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away.

 ⁶Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

 ⁷Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

 ⁸As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

 ⁹We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.

 ¹⁰According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

 ¹¹Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

 ¹²Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

 ¹³Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

 ¹⁴For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

 ¹⁷Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.

 ¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.

 ¹⁹That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.