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Ecclesiastes.htm
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Ecclesiastes.htm
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<div class="c1">
<h1>Ecclesiastes</h1>
</div>
<span>
[<a href="#1">1</a> | <a href="#2">2</a> | <a href="#3">3</a> |
<a href="#4">4</a> | <a href="#5">5</a> | <a href="#6">6</a> |
<a href="#7">7</a> | <a href="#8">8</a> | <a href="#9">9</a> |
<a href="#10">10</a> | <a href="#11">11</a> | <a href="#12">12</a>
]</span>
<hr width="50%" /><div class="book">
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="1">Ecclesiastes 1</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king of
Jerusalem.</span></li>
<li><span>Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes vanity of vanities,
and all is vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh
under the sun?</span></li>
<li><span>One generation passeth away, and another generation
cometh: but the earth standeth for ever.</span></li>
<li><span>The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his
place: and there rising again,</span></li>
<li><span>Maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the
north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about,
and returneth to his circuits.</span></li>
<li><span>All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not
overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return,
to flow again.</span></li>
<li><span>All things are hard: man cannot explain them by word. The
eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with
hearing.</span></li>
<li><span>What is it that hath been? the same thing that shall be.
What is it that hath been done? the same that shall be
done.</span></li>
<li><span>Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to
say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the
ages that were before us.</span></li>
<li><span>There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of
those things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any
remembrance with them that shall be in the latter end.</span></li>
<li><span>I Ecclesiastes was king over Israel in
Jerusalem,</span></li>
<li><span>And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely
concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful
occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised
therein.</span></li>
<li><span>I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and
behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit.</span></li>
<li><span>The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of
fools is infinite.</span></li>
<li><span>I have spoken in my heart, saying: Behold I am become
great, and have gone beyond all in wisdom, that were before me in
Jerusalem: and my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I
have learned.</span></li>
<li><span>And I have given my heart to know prudence, and learning,
and errors, and folly: and I have perceived that in these also
there was labour, and vexation of spirit,</span></li>
<li><span>Because In much wisdom there is much indignation: and he
that addeth knowledge, addeth also labour.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="2">Ecclesiastes 2</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights,
and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was
vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art
thou vainly deceived?</span></li>
<li><span>I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine,
that I might turn my mind to wisdom, and might avoid folly, till I
might see what was profitable for the children of men: and what
they ought to do under the sun, all the days of their
life.</span></li>
<li><span>I made me great works, I built me houses, and planted
vineyards,</span></li>
<li><span>I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of
all kinds,</span></li>
<li><span>And I made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood
of the young trees,</span></li>
<li><span>I got me menservants, and maidservants, and had a great
family: and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep, above all
that were before me in Jerusalem:</span></li>
<li><span>I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the
wealth of kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing
women, and the delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to
serve to pour out wine:</span></li>
<li><span>And I surpassed in riches all that were before me in
Jerusalem: my wisdom also remained with me.</span></li>
<li><span>And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: and I
withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting
itself in the things which I had prepared: and esteemed this my
portion, to make use of my own labour.</span></li>
<li><span>And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands
had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I
saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing
was lasting under the sun.</span></li>
<li><span>I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly,
(What is man, said I, that he can follow the King his
maker?)</span></li>
<li><span>And I saw that wisdom excelled folly, as much as light
differeth from darkness.</span></li>
<li><span>The eyes of a wise man are in his head: the fool walketh
in darkness: and I learned that they were to die both
alike.</span></li>
<li><span>And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine
shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself
more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I
perceived that this also was vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>For there shall be no remembrance of the wise no more
than of the fool for ever, and the times to come shall cover all
things together with oblivion: the learned dieth in like manner as
the unlearned.</span></li>
<li><span>And therefore I was weary of my life, when I saw that all
things under the sun are evil, and all vanity and vexation of
spirit.</span></li>
<li><span>Again I hated all my application wherewith I had
earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after
me,</span></li>
<li><span>Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool,
and he shall have rule over all my labours with which I have
laboured and been solicitous: and is there any thing so
vain?</span></li>
<li><span>Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring any
more under the sun.</span></li>
<li><span>For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and
carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this
also is vanity, and a great evil.</span></li>
<li><span>For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and
vexation of spirit, with which he bath been tormented under the
sun?</span></li>
<li><span>All his days axe full of sorrows and miseries, even in
the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this
vanity?</span></li>
<li><span>Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul
good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of
God.</span></li>
<li><span>Who shall so feast and abound with delights as
I?</span></li>
<li><span>God hath given to a man that is good in his sight,
wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given
vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together,
and to give it to him that hath pleased God: but this also is
vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="3">Ecclesiastes 3</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>All things have their season, and in their times all
things pass under heaven.</span></li>
<li><span>A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and
a time to pluck up that which is planted.</span></li>
<li><span>A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy,
and a time to build.</span></li>
<li><span>A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and
a time to dance.</span></li>
<li><span>A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to
embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.</span></li>
<li><span>A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a
time to cast away.</span></li>
<li><span>A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep
silence, and a time to speak.</span></li>
<li><span>A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and
a time of peace.</span></li>
<li><span>What hath man more of his labour?</span></li>
<li><span>I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of
men to be exercised in it.</span></li>
<li><span>He hath made all things good in their time, and hath
delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot flnd
out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the
end.</span></li>
<li><span>And I have known that there was no better thing than to
rejoice, and to do well in this life.</span></li>
<li><span>For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of
his labour, this is the gift of God.</span></li>
<li><span>I have learned that all the works which God hath made,
continue for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from
those things which God hath made that he may be feared.</span></li>
<li><span>That which hath been made, the same continueth: the
things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that
which is past.</span></li>
<li><span>I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness,
and in the place of justice iniquity.</span></li>
<li><span>And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and
the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.</span></li>
<li><span>I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God
would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.</span></li>
<li><span>Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the
condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die:
all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all
things are subject to vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>And all things go to one place: of earth they were made,
and into earth they return together.</span></li>
<li><span>Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend
upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend
downward?</span></li>
<li><span>And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to
rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion. For who shall
bring him to know the things that shall be after him?</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="4">Ecclesiastes 4</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>I turned myself to other things, and I saw the
oppressions that are done under the sun, and the tears of the
innocent, and they had no comforter; and they were not able to
resist their violence, being destitute of help from
any.</span></li>
<li><span>And I praised the dead rather than the
living:</span></li>
<li><span>And I judged him happier than them both, that is not yet
born, nor hath seen the evils that are done under the
sun.</span></li>
<li><span>Again I considered all the labours of men, and I remarked
that their industries are exposed to the envy of their neighhour:
so in this also there is vanity, and fruitless care.</span></li>
<li><span>The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own
flesh, saying:</span></li>
<li><span>Better is a handful with rest, than both hands full with
labour, and vexation of mind.</span></li>
<li><span>Considering I found also another vanity under the
sun:</span></li>
<li><span>There is but one, and he hath not a second, no child, no
brother, and yet he ceaseth not to labour, neither are his eyes
satisfied with riches, neither doth he reflect, saying: For whom do
I labour, and defraud my soul of good things? in this also is
vanity, and a grievous vexation.</span></li>
<li><span>It is better therefore that two should be together, than
one: for they have the advantage of their society:</span></li>
<li><span>If one fall he shall be supported by the other: woe to
him that is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to lift him
up.</span></li>
<li><span>And if two lie together, they shall warm one another: how
shall one alone be warmed?</span></li>
<li><span>And if a man prevail against one, two shall withstand
him: a threefold cord is not easily broken.</span></li>
<li><span>Better is a child that is poor and wise, than a king that
is old and foolish, who knoweth not to foresee for
hereafter.</span></li>
<li><span>Because out of prison and chains sometimes a man cometh
forth to a kingdom: and another born king is consumed with
poverty.</span></li>
<li><span>I saw all men living, that walk under the sun with the
second young man, who shall rise up in his place.</span></li>
<li><span>The number of the people, of all that were before him is
infinite: and they that shall come afterwards, shall not rejoice in
him: but this also is vanity, and vexation of spirit.</span></li>
<li><span>Keep thy foot, when thou goest into the house of God, and
draw nigh to hear. For much better is obedience, than the victims
of fools, who know not what evil they do.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="5">Ecclesiastes 5</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be
hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou
upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.</span></li>
<li><span>Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be
found folly.</span></li>
<li><span>If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it:
for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but
whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it.</span></li>
<li><span>And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to
perform the things promised.</span></li>
<li><span>Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not
before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy
words, and destroy all the works of thy hands.</span></li>
<li><span>Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and
words without number: but do thou fear God.</span></li>
<li><span>If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and
violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder
not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and
there are others still higher than these:</span></li>
<li><span>Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the
land subject to him.</span></li>
<li><span>A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he
that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is
vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat
them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the
riches with his eyes?</span></li>
<li><span>Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat lttle
or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to
sleep.</span></li>
<li><span>There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen
under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.</span></li>
<li><span>For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath
begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.</span></li>
<li><span>As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall
he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his
labour.</span></li>
<li><span>A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return.
What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the
wind?</span></li>
<li><span>All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in
many cares, and in misery, and sorrow.</span></li>
<li><span>This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should
eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath
laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath
given him: and this is his portion.</span></li>
<li><span>And every man to whom God hath given riches, and
substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy
his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of
God.</span></li>
<li><span>For he shall not much remember the days of his life,
because God entertaineth his heart with delight,</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="6">Ecclesiastes 6</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>There is also another evil, which I have seen under the
sun, and that frequent among men:</span></li>
<li><span>A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and
honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet
God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall
eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.</span></li>
<li><span>If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years,
and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of
his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce,
that the untimely born is better than he.</span></li>
<li><span>For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name
shall be wholly forgotten.</span></li>
<li><span>He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good
and evil:</span></li>
<li><span>Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not
enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one
place?</span></li>
<li><span>All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul
shall not be filled.</span></li>
<li><span>What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the
poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?</span></li>
<li><span>Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to
desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and
presumption of spirit.</span></li>
<li><span>He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is
known, that he is man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that
is stronger than himself.</span></li>
<li><span>There are many words that have much vanity in
disputing.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="7">Ecclesiastes 7</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>What needeth a man to seek things that are above him,
whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in
all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a
shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the
sun?</span></li>
<li><span>A good name is better than precious ointments: and the
day of death than the day of one's birth.</span></li>
<li><span>It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the
house of feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of
all, and the living thinketh what is to come.</span></li>
<li><span>Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of
the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected.</span></li>
<li><span>The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the
heart of fools where there is mirth.</span></li>
<li><span>It is better to be rebuked by a wise man, than to be
deceived by the flattery of fools.</span></li>
<li><span>For as the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is
the laughter of a fool: now this also is vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>Oppression troubleth the wise, and shall destroy the
strength of his heart.</span></li>
<li><span>Better is the end of a speech than the beginning. Better
is the patient man than the presumptuous.</span></li>
<li><span>Be not quickly angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of a
fool.</span></li>
<li><span>Say not: What thinkest thou is the cause that former
times were better than they are now? for this manner of question is
foolish.</span></li>
<li><span>Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more
advantage to them that see the sun.</span></li>
<li><span>For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence : but
learning and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that
possesseth them.</span></li>
<li><span>Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom
he hath despised.</span></li>
<li><span>In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand
of the evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that
man may not find against him any just complaint.</span></li>
<li><span>These things also I saw in the days of my vanity: A just
man perisheth in his justice, and a wicked man liveth a long time
in his wickedness.</span></li>
<li><span>Be not over just: and be not more wise than is necessary,
lest thou become stupid.</span></li>
<li><span>Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die
before thy time.</span></li>
<li><span>It is good that thou shouldst hold up the just, yea and
from him withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God, neglecteth
nothing.</span></li>
<li><span>Wisdom hath strengthened the wise more than ten princes
of the city.</span></li>
<li><span>For there is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and
sinneth not.</span></li>
<li><span>But do not apply thy heart to all words that are spoken:
lest perhaps thou hear thy servant reviling thee.</span></li>
<li><span>For thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often
spoken evil of others.</span></li>
<li><span>I have tried all things in wisdom. I have said: I will be
wise: and it departed farther from me,</span></li>
<li><span>Much more than it was: it is a great depth, who shall
find it out?</span></li>
<li><span>I have surveyed all things with my mind, to know, and
consider, and seek out wisdom and reason: and to know the
wickedness of the fool, and the error of the imprudent:</span></li>
<li><span>And I have found a woman more bitter than death, who is
the hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, and her hands are
bands. He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a
sinner, shall be caught by her.</span></li>
<li><span>Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one
thing after another, that I might find out the account,</span></li>
<li><span>Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One
man among a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have
not found.</span></li>
<li><span>Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he
hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the
wise man? and who hath known the resolution of the
word?</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="8">Ecclesiastes 8</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>The wisdom of a man shineth in his countenance, and the
most mighty will change his face.</span></li>
<li><span>I observe the mouth of the king, and the commandments of
the oath of God.</span></li>
<li><span>Be not hasty to depart from his face, and do not continue
in an evil work: for he will do all that pleaseth him:</span></li>
<li><span>And his word is full of power: neither can any man say to
him: Why dost thou so?</span></li>
<li><span>He that keepeth the commandments shall find no evil. The
heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer.</span></li>
<li><span>There is a time and opportunity for every business, and
great affliction for man:</span></li>
<li><span>Because he is ignorant of things past, and things to come
he cannot know by any messenger.</span></li>
<li><span>It is not in man's power to stop the spirit, neither hath
he power in the day of death, neither is he suffered to rest when
war is at hand, neither shall wickedness save the
wicked.</span></li>
<li><span>All these things I have considered, and applied my heart
to all the works that are done under the sun. Sometimes one man
ruleth over another to his own hurt.</span></li>
<li><span>I saw the wicked buried: who also when they were yet
living were in the holy place, and were praised in the city as men
of just works: but this also is vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>For because sentence is not speedily pronounced against
the evil, the children of men commit evils without any
fear.</span></li>
<li><span>But though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and by
patience be borne withal, I know from thence that it shall be well
with them that fear God, who dread his face.</span></li>
<li><span>But let it not be well with the wicked, neither let his
days be prolonged, but as a shadow let them pass away that fear not
the face of the Lord.</span></li>
<li><span>There is also another vanity, which is done upon the
earth. There are just men to whom evils happen, as though they had
done the works of the wicked: and there are wicked men, who are as
secure, as though they had the deeds of the just: but this also I
judge most vain.</span></li>
<li><span>Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good
for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and
that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days
of his life, which God hath given him under the sun.</span></li>
<li><span>And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to understand
the distraction that is upon earth: for there are some that day and
night take no sleep with their eyes.</span></li>
<li><span>And I understood that man can find no reason of all those
works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall
labour to seek, so much the less shall he find: yea, though the
wise man shall say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to
find it.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="9">Ecclesiastes 9</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>All these things have I considered in my heart, that I
might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men,
and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not
whether he be worthy of love, or hatred:</span></li>
<li><span>But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come,
because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to
the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him
that offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the
good is, so also is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that
sweareth truth.</span></li>
<li><span>This is a very great evil among all things that are done
under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also
the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with
contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down
to hell.</span></li>
<li><span>There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for
this: a living dog is better than a dead lion.</span></li>
<li><span>For the living know that they shall die, but the dead
know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the
memory of them is forgotten.</span></li>
<li><span>Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy are all
perished, neither have they any part in this world, and in the work
that is done under the sun.</span></li>
<li><span>Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine
with gladness: because thy works please God.</span></li>
<li><span>At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil
depart from thy head.</span></li>
<li><span>Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the
days of thy unsteady life, which are given to thee under the sun,
all the time of thy vanity: for this is thy portion in life, and in
thy labour wherewith thou labourest under the sun.</span></li>
<li><span>Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for
neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in
hell, whither thou art hastening.</span></li>
<li><span>I turned me to another thing, and I saw that under the
sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong,
nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favour to the
skilful: but time and chance in all.</span></li>
<li><span>Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with
the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken
in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon
them.</span></li>
<li><span>This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed
to me to be very great:</span></li>
<li><span>A little city, and few men in it: there came against it a
great king, and invested it, and built bulwarks round about it, and
the siege was perfect.</span></li>
<li><span>Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he
delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man afterward remembered
that poor man.</span></li>
<li><span>And I said that wisdom is better than strength: how then
is the wisdom of the poor man slighted, and his words not
heard?</span></li>
<li><span>The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the
cry of a prince among fools.</span></li>
<li><span>Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall
offend in one, shall lose many good things.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="10">Ecclesiastes 10</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom
and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived
folly.</span></li>
<li><span>The heart of a wise man is in his right hand, and the
heart of a fool is in his left hand.</span></li>
<li><span>Yea, and the fool when he walketh in the way, whereas be
himself is a fool, esteemeth all men fools.</span></li>
<li><span>If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee,
leave not thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to
cease.</span></li>
<li><span>There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it
were by an error proceeding from the face of the
prince:</span></li>
<li><span>A fool set in high dignity, and the rich sitting
beneath.</span></li>
<li><span>I have seen servants upon horses: and princes walking on
the ground as servants.</span></li>
<li><span>He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that
breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.</span></li>
<li><span>He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them: and he
that cutteth trees, shall be wounded by them.</span></li>
<li><span>If the iron be blunt, and be not as before, but be made
blunt, with much labour it shall be sharpened: and after industry
shall follow wisdom.</span></li>
<li><span>If a serpent bite in silence, he is nothing better that
backbiteth secretly.</span></li>
<li><span>The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the
lips of a fool shall throw him down headlong.</span></li>
<li><span>The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his
talk is a mischievous error.</span></li>
<li><span>A fool multiplieth words. A man cannot tell what hath
been before him: and what shall be after him, who can tell
him?</span></li>
<li><span>The labour of fools shall afflict them that know not bow
to go to the city.</span></li>
<li><span>Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and when
the princes eat in the morning.</span></li>
<li><span>Blessed is the land, whose king is noble, and whose
princes eat in due season for refreshment, and not for
riotousness.</span></li>
<li><span>By slothfulness a building shall be brought down, and
through the weakness of hands, the house shall drop
through.</span></li>
<li><span>For laughter they make bread, and wine that the living
may feast: and all things obey money.</span></li>
<li><span>Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak
not evil of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the
birds of the air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will
tell what thou hast said.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="11">Ecclesiastes 11</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>Cast thy bread upon the running waters: for after a long
time thou shalt find it again.</span></li>
<li><span>Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou
knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.</span></li>
<li><span>If the clouds be full, they will pour out rain upon the
earth. If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what
place soever it shall fall, there shall it be.</span></li>
<li><span>He that observeth the wind, shall not sow: and he that
considereth the clouds, shall never reap.</span></li>
<li><span>As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor
how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with
child: so thou knowest not the works of God, who is the maker of
all.</span></li>
<li><span>In the morning sow thy seed, and In the evening let not
thy hand cease: for thou knowest not which may rather spring up,
this or that: and if both together, it shall be the
better.</span></li>
<li><span>The light is sweet, and it is delightful for the eyes to
see the sun.</span></li>
<li><span>If a man live many years, and have rejoiced in them all,
he must remember the darksome time, and the many days: which when
they shall come, the things past shall be accused of
vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy
heart be in that which is good in the days of thy youth, and walk
in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: and know
that for all these God will bring thee into judgment.</span></li>
<li><span>Remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy
flesh. For youth and pleasure are vain.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="chapter">
<div class="chaptertitle"><a name="12">Ecclesiastes 12</a></div>
<ol>
<li><span>Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the
time of affliction come, and the years draw nigh of which thou
shalt say: They please me not:</span></li>
<li><span>Before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the
stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the
rain:</span></li>
<li><span>When the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the
strong men shall stagger, and the grinders shall be idle in a small
number, and they that look through the holes shall be
darkened:</span></li>
<li><span>And they shall shut the doors in the street, when the
grinder's voice shall be low, and they shall rise up at the voice
of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall grow
deaf.</span></li>
<li><span>And they shall fear high things, and they shall be afraid
in the way, the almond tree shall flourish, the locust shall be
made fat, and the caper tree shall be destroyed: because man shall
go into the house of his eternity, and the mourners shall go round
about in the street.</span></li>
<li><span>Before the silver cord be broken, and the golden fillet
shrink back, and the pitcher be crushed at the fountain, and the
wheel be broken upon the cistern,</span></li>
<li><span>And the dust return into its earth, from whence it was,
and the spirit return to God, who gave it.</span></li>
<li><span>Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, and all things are
vanity.</span></li>
<li><span>And whereas Ecclesiastes was very wise, he taught the
people, and declared the things that he had done: and seeking out,
he set forth many parables.</span></li>
<li><span>He sought profitable words, and wrote words most right,
and full of truth.</span></li>
<li><span>The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails deeply
fastened in, which by the counsel of masters are given from one
shepherd.</span></li>
<li><span>More than these, my son, require not. Of making many
books there is no end: and much study is an affliction of the
flesh.</span></li>
<li><span>Let us all hear together the conclusion of the discourse.
Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is all
man:</span></li>
<li><span>And all things that are done, God will bring into
judgment for every error, whether it be good or evil.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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