World English Bible · The united kingdom
Ecclesiastes 7
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A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of better than the day of one's birth. It is better to go to the house of than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to . Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the is made good. of is in the house of ; but of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is . Surely extortion makes man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The in is better than the proud in . Don't be hasty in your to be angry, for rests in the of fools. Don't say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For you do not ask wisely about this. is as good as an . Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun. For is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that preserves the life of him who has it. Consider the work of , for who can make that straight which he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him. All this I have seen in my days of : there is a man who perishes in his , and there is a man who lives long in his evildoing. Don't be overly , neither make yourself overly . Why should you destroy yourself? Don't be too , neither be foolish. Why should you before your time? It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also don't withdraw your hand from that; for he who fears will come out of them all. is a strength to man more than ten who are in a city. Surely there is not a man on earth who does good and doesn't . Also don't take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear you; for often your own knows that you yourself have likewise others. All this I have proved in . I said, "I will be ;" but it was far from me. That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out? I turned around, and sought to know and to search out, and to seek and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness. I find more bitter than the woman whose is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases shall escape from her; but the will be ensnared by her. "Behold, I have found this," says the Preacher, "to one another, to find an explanation which still seeks, but I have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all those. Behold, I have only found this: that made mankind upright; but they search for many inventions."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.