Ecc 7:1-14 | ESV | STEP | A good name is better than precious ointment , and the day of death than the day of birth .

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly

1 ^aA good name is better than precious ointment,
and ^bthe day of death than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will ^clay it to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
^dfor by sadness of face the heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is ^ebetter for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.
6 ^fFor as the crackling of ^gthorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of the fools;
this also is vanity. ^{▼▼The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)}
7 Surely ⁱoppression drives the wise into madness,
and ^ja bribe corrupts the heart.
8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,
and ^kthe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 ^lBe not quick in your spirit to become angry,
^mfor anger lodges in the heart ^{▼▼Hebrew in the bosom} of fools.
10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who ^osee the sun.
12 For the protection of wisdom is like ^pthe protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that ^qwisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
13 Consider ^rthe work of God:
^swho can make straight what he has made crooked?
14 ^tIn the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, ^uso that man may not find out anything that will be after him.