Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 7"

Ecclesiastes 7

The Bible in Basic English BBE

1 A good name is better than oil of great price, and the day of death than the day of birth.

2 It is better to go to the house of weeping, than to go to the house of feasting; because that is the end of every man, and the living will take it to their hearts.

3 Sorrow is better than joy; when the face is sad the mind gets better.

4 The hearts of the wise are in the house of weeping; but the hearts of the foolish are in the house of joy.

5 It is better to take note of the protest of the wise, than for a man to give ear to the song of the foolish.

6 Like the cracking of thorns under a pot, so is the laugh of a foolish man; and this again is to no purpose.

7 The wise are troubled by the ways of the cruel, and the giving of money is the destruction of the heart.

8 The end of a thing is better than its start, and a gentle spirit is better than pride.

9 Be not quick to let your spirit be angry; because wrath is in the heart of the foolish.

10 Say not, Why were the days which have gone by better than these? Such a question comes not from wisdom.

11 Wisdom together with a heritage is good, and a profit to those who see the sun.

12 Wisdom keeps a man from danger even as money does; but the value of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owner.

13 Give thought to the work of God. Who will make straight what he has made bent?

14 In the day of wealth have joy, but in the day of evil take thought: God has put the one against the other, so that man may not be certain what will be after him.

15 These two have I seen in my life which is to no purpose: a good man coming to his end in his righteousness, and an evil man whose days are long in his evil-doing.

16 Be not given overmuch to righteousness and be not over-wise. Why let destruction come on you?

17 Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time?

18 It is good to take this in your hand and not to keep your hand from that; he who has the fear of God will be free of the two.

19 Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a town.

20 There is no man on earth of such righteousness that he does good and is free from sin all his days.

21 Do not give ear to all the words which men say, for fear of hearing the curses of your servant.

22 Your heart has knowledge how frequently others have been cursed by you.

23 All this I have put to the test by wisdom; I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.

24 Far off is true existence, and very deep; who may have knowledge of it?

25 I gave my mind to knowledge and to searching for wisdom and the reason of things, and to the discovery that sin is foolish, and that to be foolish is to be without one's senses.

26 And I saw a thing more bitter than death, even the woman whose heart is full of tricks and nets, and whose hands are as bands. He with whom God is pleased will get free from her, but the sinner will be taken by her.

27 Look! this I have seen, said the Preacher, taking one thing after another to get the true account,

28 For which my soul is still searching, but I have it not; one man among a thousand have I seen; but a woman among all these I have not seen.

29 This only have I seen, that God made men upright, but they have been searching out all sorts of inventions.

Good News Translation GNT

1 A good reputation is better than expensive perfume; and the day you die is better than the day you are born.

2 It is better to go to a home where there is mourning than to one where there is a party, because the living should always remind themselves that death is waiting for us all.

3 Sorrow is better than laughter; it may sadden your face, but it sharpens your understanding.

4 Someone who is always thinking about happiness is a fool. A wise person thinks about death.

5 It is better to have wise people reprimand you than to have stupid people sing your praises.

6 When a fool laughs, it is like thorns crackling in a fire. It doesn't mean a thing.

7 You may be wise, but if you cheat someone, you are acting like a fool. If you take a bribe, you ruin your character.

8 The end of something is better than its beginning. Patience is better than pride.

9 Keep your temper under control; it is foolish to harbor a grudge.

10 Never ask, "Oh, why were things so much better in the old days?" It's not an intelligent question.

11 Everyone who lives ought to be wise; it is as good as receiving an inheritance

12 and will give you as much security as money can. Wisdom keeps you safe - this is the advantage of knowledge.

13 Think about what God has done. How can anyone straighten out what God has made crooked?

14 When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next.

15 My life has been useless, but in it I have seen everything. Some good people may die while others live on, even though they are evil.

16 So don't be too good or too wise - why kill yourself?

17 But don't be too wicked or too foolish, either - why die before you have to?

18 Avoid both extremes. If you have reverence for God, you will be successful anyway.

19 Wisdom does more for a person than ten rulers can do for a city.

20 There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.

21 Don't pay attention to everything people say - you may hear your servant insulting you,

22 and you know yourself that you have insulted other people many times.

23 I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me.

24 How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand.

25 But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is.

26 I found something more bitter than death - the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net, and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner.

27 Yes, said the Philosopher, I found this out little by little while I was looking for answers.

28 I have looked for other answers but have found none. I found one man in a thousand that I could respect, but not one woman.

29 This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.