Wise Sayings
14In the day of prosperity be joyful,a but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other,b so that no one can discover anything that will come after him. Avoiding Extremes15In my futile lifeA I have seen everything:a someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness,b and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil.c 16Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise.a Why should you destroy yourself? 17Don’t be excessively wicked, and don’t be foolish. Why should you die before your time?a 18It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.
21Don’t pay attentionA to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you,a 22for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others. What the Teacher Found23I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me. 24What exists is beyond reach and very deep.a Who can discover it? 25I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdoma and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. 26And I find more bitter than deatha the woman who is a trap:b her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. 27“Look,” says the Teacher, “I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, 28which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman.a 29Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright,a but they pursued many schemes.” The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved. Bible Hub |