Ecclesiastes 7:1-11

1 A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you are born.

2 Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies— so the living should take this to heart.

3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.

4 A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.

5 Better to be criticized by a wise person than to be praised by a fool.

6 A fool’s laughter is quickly gone, like thorns crackling in a fire. This also is meaningless.

7 Extortion turns wise people into fools, and bribes corrupt the heart.

8 Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride.

9 Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool.

10 Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise.

11 Wisdom is even better when you have money. Both are a benefit as you go through life.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-11 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.