The Berean Pursuit
A good name is better than fine perfume,
and one's day of death is better than his day of birth.
It is better to enter a house of mourning
than a house of feasting,
since death is the end of every man,
and the living should take this to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for a sad countenance is good for the heart.
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
It is better to heed a wise man's rebuke
than to listen to the song of fools.
For like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.
Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.
The end of a matter is better than the beginning,
and a patient spirit is better than a proud one.
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?"
For it is unwise of you to ask about this.
Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good,
and it benefits those who see the sun.
For wisdom, like money, is a shelter,
and the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
Consider the work of God:
Who can straighten what He has bent?
In the day of prosperity, be joyful,
but in the day of adversity, consider this:
God has made one of these along with the other,
so that a man cannot discover
anything that will come after him.
In my futile life I have seen both of these:
A righteous man perishing in his righteousness,
and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let the other slip from your hand. For he who fears God will follow both warnings.
Wisdom makes the wise man
stronger than ten rulers in a city.
Surely there is no righteous man on earth
who does good and never sins.
Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you. For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
All this I tested by wisdom, saying, "I resolve to be wise." But it was beyond me. What exists is out of reach and very deep. Who can fathom it?
I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness. And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.
"Behold," says the Teacher, "I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find an explanation. While my soul was still searching but not finding, among a thousand I have found one upright man, but among all these I have not found one such woman. Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes."
Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man's wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.
Keep the king's command, I say, because of your oath before God. Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. For the king's word is supreme, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him. Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.
Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile. When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.
So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth-though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night- I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.
So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God's hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.
It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.
This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.
There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
Let your garments always be white,
and never spare the oil for your head.
Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun-all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun. Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all. For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me: There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.
Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. And I said, "Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded."
The calm words of the wise are heeded
over the shouts of a ruler among fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.
For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song.
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in times of trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth is transformed
and the mountains are toppled
into the depths of the seas,
though their waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake in the surge.
Selah
There is a river whose streams delight the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her; she will not be moved.
God will help her when morning dawns.
Nations rage, kingdoms crumble;
the earth melts when He lifts His voice.
The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah
Come, see the works of the LORD,
who brings devastation upon the earth.
He makes wars to cease throughout the earth;
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
He burns the shields in the fire.
"Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted over the earth."
The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah