Wisdom and Foolishness Contrasted

¹⁵ I have seen everything during my ^[m](W)lifetime of futility; there is ^(X)a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is ^(Y)a wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness. ¹⁶ Do not be excessively ^(Z)righteous, and do not ^(AA)be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? ¹⁷ Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you ^(AB)die ^[n]before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you grasp one thing while not ^[o]letting go of the other; for one who ^(AC)fears God comes out with ^[p]both of them.

^19 (AD)Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city. ²⁰ Indeed, ^(AE)there is not a righteous person on earth who always does good and does not ever sin. ²¹ Also, do not ^[q]take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant ^(AF)cursing you, ²² for ^[r]you know that even you have cursed others many times as well.

²³ I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” ^(AG)but wisdom was far from me. ²⁴ What has been is remote and ^(AH)very ^[s]mysterious. ^(AI)Who can discover it? ²⁵ I ^[t](AJ)directed my ^[u]mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity. ²⁶ And I discovered as more ^(AK)bitter than death the woman whose heart is ^(AL)snares and nets, whose hands are chains. ^(AM)One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but ^(AN)the sinner will be captured by her.

²⁷ “Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “by adding one thing to another to find an explanation, ²⁸ which ^[v]I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a ^(AO)woman among all these. ²⁹ Behold, I have found only this, that ^(AP)God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”

Obey Rulers

8 Who is like the wise person and who knows the meaning of a matter? A person’s wisdom ^(A)illuminates his face and makes his ^(B)stern face ^[a]brighten up.

² I say, “Keep the ^[b]command of the king because of the ^(C)oath ^[c]before God. ³ Do not be in a hurry ^[d](D)to leave him. Do not join in an evil matter, for he will do whatever he pleases.” ⁴ Since the word of the king is authoritative, ^(E)who will say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵ One who ^(F)keeps a royal command ^(G)experiences no ^[e]trouble, for a wise heart knows the proper time and procedure. ⁶ For ^(H)there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a person’s trouble is heavy upon him. ⁷ If no one ^(I)knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? ^8 (J)No one has authority over the wind to restrain the wind, nor authority over the day of death; and there is no military discharge in the time of war, and ^(K)evil will not save ^[f]those who practice it. ⁹ All this I have seen, and have applied my ^[g]mind to every deed that has been done under the sun at a time when one person has exercised ^(L)authority over another person to his detriment.

¹⁰ So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they are ^(M)soon forgotten in the city where they did such things. This too is futility. ¹¹ Because the ^(N)sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore ^(O)the hearts of the sons of mankind among them are ^[h]fully given to do evil. ¹² Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and may ^(P)lengthen his life, still I know that it will go ^(Q)well for those who fear God, who fear ^[i]Him openly. ¹³ But it will ^(R)not go well for the evil person and he will not lengthen his days like a ^(S)shadow, because he does not fear God.

¹⁴ There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are ^(T)righteous people to whom it ^[j]happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are ^(U)evil people to whom it ^[k]happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility. ¹⁵ So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for ^(V)a person under the sun except to eat, drink, and be joyful, and this will stand by him in his labor throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

¹⁶ When I ^(W)devoted my ^[l]mind to know wisdom and to see the business which has been done on the earth (even though one should ^[m](X)never sleep day or night), ¹⁷ and I saw every work of God, I concluded that ^(Y)one cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though a person laboriously seeks, he will not discover; and ^(Z)even if the wise person claims to know, he cannot discover.