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Ecclesiastes / Proverbs on Wisdom, Patience, and Righteous Living
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Proverbs on Wisdom, Patience, and Righteous Living

Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:1

7
Chapter 7
1 A good name is better than good oil, and the day of death better than the day of his birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all Adam, and the living will give it to his heart. 3 Good is anger more than laughter, for with a sad face the heart will be made good. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, and the heart of fools is in the house of joy. 5 It is better to hear the rebuke of a wise man than for a man to hear the song of fools. 6 For like the sound of the thorns under the pot, so the fool laughs. And this too is הבל. 7 For oppression will make the wise man mad, and it will destroy the heart of a gift. 8 Better the end of a matter than its beginning. Better patience than pride. 9 Do not be quick in your spirit to anger, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. 10 Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" for you do not ask wisely about this. 11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and it is better for those who see the sun. 12 For the shadow of wisdom is like the shadow of silver, and the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom preserves the life of its possessors. 13 See the work of God, for who can straighten what he has made crooked? 14 In the day of good, be in good, and in the day of evil, see: God has made this as well as its opposite, on account of the word that he will not find anything in humanity after it. 15 I have seen everything in the days of Hebel. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil. 16 Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool—why do you die before your time? 18 It is good that you grasp this one and also do not withhold your hand from this one, for one who fears God will go forth with all of them. 19 Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers in a city. 20 For there is no person on earth who does good and does not sin. 21 Also do not give your heart to all the words that they speak, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 for many times your heart has also known that you have also cursed others. 23 All this I tested with wisdom. I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me. 24 Far from what has been, and deep, deep—who will find it? 25 I and my heart turned to know and to seek wisdom and a reckoning, and to know the wicked as fools and the folly of madness. 26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is nets and herem/devotions to destruction for her heart, bindings of her hands/power. The good before God will escape from her, and a sinner will be caught in her. 27 See, this I have found, said Qoheleth, one by one, to find an account. 28 which my nephesh still sought but I did not find: one man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I did not find. 29 Apart from this, I have seen only this: I have found what God made—the Adam upright—and they have sought many inventions.
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Chapter 8
1 Who is like the wise man, and who knows the interpretation of a word? A man's wisdom lights up his face, and the strength of his face he changes.