Ecclesiastes 7:9-19

9 Do not be ¹eager in your heart to be angry, For anger resides in the bosom of fools.

10 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.

11 Wisdom along with an inheritance is good And an ²advantage to those who see the sun.

12 For ³wisdom is protection just as money is protection, But the advantage of knowledge is that ⁴wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.

13 Consider the ⁵work of God, For who is ⁶able to straighten what He has bent?

14 ⁷In the day of prosperity be happy, But ⁸in the day of adversity consider - God has made the one as well as the other So * that man will ⁹not discover anything that will be after him.

15 I have seen everything during my ¹⁰lifetime of futility; there is ¹¹a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is ¹²a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

16 Do not be excessively ¹³righteous and do not ¹⁴be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?

17 Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you ¹⁵die before your time?

18 It is good that you grasp one thing and also not let * go * of the other; for the one who ¹⁶fears God comes forth with both of them.

19 ¹⁷Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Ecclesiastes 7:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 7

The wise man having exposed the many vanities to which men are subject in this life, and showed that there is no real happiness in all outward enjoyments under the sun; proceeds to observe what are remedies against them, of which he had interspersed some few hints before, as the fear and worship of God, and the free and, moderate use of the creatures; and here suggests more, and such as will protect from them, or support under them, or teach and instruct how to behave while attended with them, and to direct to what are proper and necessary in the pursuit of true and real happiness; such as care of a good name and reputation, Ec 7:1; frequent meditation on mortality, Ec 7:2-4; listening to the rebukes of the wise, which are preferable to the songs and mirth of fools, Ec 7:5,6; avoiding oppression and bribery, which are very pernicious, Ec 7:7; patience under provocations, and present bad times, as thought to be, Ec 7:8-10; a pursuit of that wisdom and knowledge which has life annexed to it, Ec 7:11,12; submission to the will of God, and contentment in every state, Ec 7:13,14; shunning extremes in righteousness and sin, the best antidote against which is the fear of God, Ec 7:15-18; such wisdom as not to be offended with everything that is done, or word that is spoken, considering the imperfection of the best of men, the weakness of others, and our own, Ec 7:19-22; and then the wise man acknowledges the imperfection of his own wisdom and knowledge, notwithstanding the pains he had taken, Ec 7:23-25; and laments his sin and folly in being drawn aside by women, Ec 7:26-28; and opens the cause of the depravity of human nature, removes it from God, who made man upright, and ascribes it to man, the inventor of evil things, Ec 7:29.

Cross References

• 1. Proverbs 14:17; James 1:19
• 2. Proverbs 8:10, 11; Ecclesiastes 2:13
• 3. Ecclesiastes 7:19; Ecclesiastes 9:18
• 4. Proverbs 3:18; Proverbs 8:35
• 5. Ecclesiastes 3:11; Ecclesiastes 8:17
• 6. Ecclesiastes 1:15
• 7. Deuteronomy 26:11; Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 9:7; Ecclesiastes 11:9
• 8. Deuteronomy 8:5; Job 2:10
• 9. Ecclesiastes 3:22
• 10. Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 9:9
• 11. Ecclesiastes 8:14
• 12. Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13
• 13. Proverbs 25:16; Philippians 3:6
• 14. Romans 12:3
• 15. Job 22:16; Psalms 55:23; Proverbs 10:27
• 16. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Ecclesiastes 5:7; Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13; Ecclesiastes 12:13
• 17. Ecclesiastes 7:12; Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "hasty in your spirit"
• [b] Lit "in a shadow"
• [c] Lit "in a shadow"
• [d] Lit "days"
• [e] Lit "rest your hand"
• [f] Lit "all"