Proverbs 31

English Standard Version

The Words of King Lemuel

31 The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him:

²What are you doing, my son?^[a] What are you doing, ^(A)son of my womb?
    What are you doing, ^(B)son of my vows?
³Do ^(C)not give your strength to women,
    your ways to those ^(D)who destroy kings.
⁴^(E)It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
    it is not for kings ^(F)to drink wine,
    or for rulers to take ^(G)strong drink,
⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
    and ^(H)pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
⁶Give strong drink to the one who ^(I)is perishing,
    and wine to ^(J)those in bitter distress;^[b]
⁷^(K)let them drink and forget their poverty
    and remember their misery no more.
⁸^(L)Open your mouth for the mute,
    for the rights of all who are destitute.^[c]
⁹Open your mouth, ^(M)judge righteously,
    ^(N)defend the rights of ^(O)the poor and needy.

The Woman Who Fears the Lord

¹⁰^[d] ^(P)An excellent wife who can find?
    She is far more precious than ^(Q)jewels.
¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her,
    and he will have no lack of gain.
¹²She does him good, and not harm,
    all the days of her life.
¹³She ^(R)seeks wool and flax,
    and works with willing hands.
¹⁴She is like the ships of the merchant;
    she brings her food from afar.
¹⁵She ^(S)rises while it is yet night
    and ^(T)provides food for her household
    and portions for her maidens.
¹⁶She considers a field and buys it;
    with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
¹⁷She ^(U)dresses herself^[e] with strength
    and makes her arms strong.
¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
    Her lamp does not go out at night.
¹⁹She puts her hands to the distaff,
    and her hands hold the spindle.
²⁰She ^(V)opens her hand to ^(W)the poor
    and reaches out her hands to ^(X)the needy.
²¹She is not afraid of snow for her household,
    for all her household are clothed in ^(Y)scarlet.^[f]
²²She makes ^(Z)bed coverings for herself;
    her clothing is ^(AA)fine linen and ^(AB)purple.
²³Her husband is known in ^(AC)the gates
    when he sits among the elders of the land.
²⁴She makes ^(AD)linen garments and sells them;
    she delivers sashes to the merchant.
²⁵^(AE)Strength and dignity are her clothing,
    and she laughs at the time to come.
²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom,
    and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
²⁹“Many ^(AF)women have done ^(AG)excellently,
    but you surpass them all.”
³⁰^(AH)Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands,
    and let her works praise her in the gates.

Footnotes

Proverbs 31:2 Hebrew What, my son?
Proverbs 31:6 Hebrew those bitter in soul
Proverbs 31:8 Hebrew are sons of passing away
Proverbs 31:10 Verses 10–31 are an acrostic poem, each verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
Proverbs 31:17 Hebrew She girds her loins
Proverbs 31:21 Or in double thickness

Ecclesiastes 1:1-3:8

English Standard Version

All Is Vanity

1 The words of ^(A)the Preacher,^[a] the son of David, ^(B)king in Jerusalem.

²^(C)Vanity^[b] of vanities, says ^(D)the Preacher,
    ^(E)vanity of vanities! ^(F)All is vanity.
³^(G)What ^(H)does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
⁴A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but ^(I)the earth remains forever.
⁵^(J)The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens^[c] to the place where it rises.
⁶^(K)The wind blows to the south
    and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
⁷All ^(L)streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
⁸All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
^(M)the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹^(N)What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
It has been ^(O)already
    in the ages before us.
¹¹There is no ^(P)remembrance of former things,^[d]
    nor will there be any remembrance
of later things^[e] yet to be
    among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

¹²I ^(Q)the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I ^(R)applied my heart^[f] to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy ^(S)business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹⁴I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is ^(T)vanity^[g] and a striving after wind.^[h]

¹⁵^(U)What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said in my heart, “I have acquired great ^(V)wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷And I ^(W)applied my heart to know wisdom and to know ^(X)madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ^(Y)a striving after wind.

¹⁸For ^(Z)in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

2 I ^(AA)said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.^[i] ²I ^(AB)said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³I ^(AC)searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^(AD)folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴I made great works. I ^(AE)built houses and planted ^(AF)vineyards for myself. ⁵I made myself ^(AG)gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷I bought male and female slaves, and had ^(AH)slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of ^(AI)herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and ^(AJ)gold and the treasure of ^(AK)kings and ^(AL)provinces. I got ^(AM)singers, both men and women, and many ^(AN)concubines,^[j] the delight of the sons of man.

⁹So I became great and ^(AO)surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my ^(AP)wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart ^(AQ)found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ^(AR)reward for all my toil. ¹¹Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^(AS)vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^(AT)to be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

¹²^(AU)So I turned to consider ^(AV)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^(AW)what has already been done. ¹³Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ¹⁴^(AX)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^(AY)same event happens to all of them. ¹⁵Then I said in my heart, ^(AZ)“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. ¹⁶For of the wise as of the fool there is ^(BA)no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^(BB)How the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^(BC)all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸I hated ^(BD)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(BE)leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰So I ^(BF)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(BG)over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²What has a man from ^(BH)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³For ^(BI)all his days are full of sorrow, and his ^(BJ)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴^(BK)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(BL)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[k] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(BM)from the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him^[l] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him ^(BN)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(BO)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(BP)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(BQ)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and ^(BR)a time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to be born, and a time to ^(BS)die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴a time to ^(BT)weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to ^(BU)dance;
⁵a time to ^(BV)cast away stones, and a time to ^(BW)gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to ^(BX)refrain from embracing;
⁶a time to seek, and a time to ^(BY)lose;
a time to keep, and a time to ^(BZ)cast away;
⁷a time to ^(CA)tear, and a time to sew;
a time to ^(CB)keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸a time to love, and a time to ^(CC)hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 1:1 Or Convener, or Collector; Hebrew Qoheleth (so throughout Ecclesiastes)
Ecclesiastes 1:2 The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes 1:5 Or and returns panting
Ecclesiastes 1:11 Or former people
Ecclesiastes 1:11 Or later people
Ecclesiastes 1:13 The Hebrew term denotes the center of one's inner life, including mind, will, and emotions
Ecclesiastes 1:14 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)
Ecclesiastes 1:14 Or a feeding on wind; compare Hosea 12:1 (also in Ecclesiastes 1:17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9)
Ecclesiastes 2:1 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26 (see note on 1:2)
Ecclesiastes 2:8 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Ecclesiastes 2:24 Or and make his soul see good
Ecclesiastes 2:25 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me