Day 251 The Bible in a Year (Orthodox canon)

Ecclesiastes 7

1 A good name is better than good oil; and the day of death than the day of birth. 2 [It is] better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the banquet house: since this is the end of every man; and the living man will apply good [warning] to his heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart will be made better. 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] better to hear a reproof of a wise man, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 6 As the sound of thorns under a caldron, so is the laughter of fools: this is also vanity. 7 For oppression makes a wise man mad, and destroys his noble heart. 8 The end of a matter is better than the beginning thereof: the patient is better than the high-minded. 9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger will rest in the bosom of fools. 10 Say not, What has happened, that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire in wisdom concerning this. 11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and [there is] an advantage [by it] to them that see the sun. 12 For wisdom in its shadow is as the shadow of silver: and the excellence of the knowledge of wisdom will give life to him that has it. 13 Behold the works of God: for who shall be able to straighten him whom God has made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity live joyfully, and consider in the day of adversity: consider, [I say], God also has caused the one to agree with the other for [this] reason, that man should find nothing after him. 15 I have seen all things in the days of my vanity: there is a just man perishing in his justice, and there is an ungodly man remaining in his wickedness. 16 Be not very just; neither be very wise: lest thou be confounded. 17 Be not very wicked; and be not stubborn: lest thou shouldest die before thy time. 18 It is well for thee to hold fast by this; also by this defile not thine hand: for to them that fear God all things shall come forth [well]. 19 Wisdom will help the wise man more than ten mighty men which are in the city. 20 For there is not a righteous man in the earth, who will do good, and not sin. 21 Also take no heed to all the words which ungodly men shall speak; lest thou hear thy servant cursing thee. 22 For many times he shall trespass against thee, and repeatedly shall he afflict thine heart; for thus also hast thou cursed others. 23 All these things have I proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. 24 [That which is] far beyond what was, and a great depth, who shall find it out? 25 I and my heart went round about to know, and to examine, and to seek wisdom, and the account [of things], and to know the folly and trouble and madness of the ungodly man. 26 And I find her [to be], and I will pronounce [to be] more bitter than death the woman which is a snare, and her heart nets, [who has] a band in her hands: [he that is] good in the sight of God shall be delivered from her; but the sinner shall be caught by her. 27 Behold, this have I found, said the Preacher, [seeking] by one at a time to find out the account, 28 which my soul sought after, but I found not: for I have found one man of a thousand; but a woman in all these I have not found. 29 But, behold, this have I found, that God made man upright; but they have sought out many devices. Who knows the wise? and who knows the interpretation of a saying?

Ecclesiastes 8

1 A man's wisdom will lighten his countenance; but a man of shameless countenance will be hated. 2 Observe the commandment of the king, and [that] because of the word of the oath of God. 3 Be not hasty; thou shalt go forth out of his presence: stand not in an evil matter; for he will do whatsoever he shall please, 4 even as a king having power: and who will say to him, What doest thou? 5 He that keeps the commandment shall not know an evil thing: and the heart of the wise knows the time of judgment. 6 For to every thing there is time and judgment; for the knowledge of a man is great to him. 7 For there is no one that knows what is going to be: for who shall tell him how it shall be? 8 There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; and there is no power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in the day of battle; neither shall ungodliness save her votary. 9 So I saw all this, and I applied my heart to every work that has been done under the sun; all the things wherein man has power over man to afflict him. 10 And then I saw the ungodly carried into the tombs, and [that] out of the holy place: and they departed, and were praised in the city, because they had done thus: this also is vanity. 11 Because there is no contradiction made on the part of those who do evil quickly, therefore the heart of the children of men is fully determined in them to do evil. 12 He that has sinned has done evil from that time, and long from beforehand: nevertheless I know, that it is well with them that fear God, that they may fear before him: 13 but it shall not be well with the ungodly, and he shall not prolong his days, [which are] as a shadow; forasmuch as he fears not before God. 14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are righteous persons to whom it happens according to the doing of the ungodly; and there are ungodly men, to whom it happens according to the doing of the just: I said, This is also vanity. 15 Then I praised mirth, because there is no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry: and this shall attend him in his labour all the days of his life, which God has given him under the sun. 16 Whereupon I set my heart to know wisdom, and to perceive the trouble that was wrought upon the earth: for there is that neither by day nor night sees sleep with his eyes. 17 And I beheld all the works of God, that a man shall not be able to discover the work which is wrought under the sun; whatsoever things a man shall endeavour to seek, however a man may labour to seek it, yet he shall not find it; yea, how much soever a wise man may speak of knowing it, he shall not be able to find it: for I applied all this to my heart, and my heart has seen all this.

Ecclesiastes 9

1 [I saw] that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: yea, there is no man that knows either love or hatred, [though] all are before their face. 2 Vanity is in all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good, and to the bad; both to the pure, and to the impure; both to him that sacrifices, and to him that sacrifices not: as is the good, so is the sinner: as is the swearer, even so is he that fears an oath. 3 There is this evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yea, the heart of the sons of men is filled with evil, and madness is in their heart during their life, and after that [they go] to the dead. 4 For who is he that has fellowship with all the living? there is hope [of him]: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living will know that they shall die: but the dead know nothing, and there is no longer any reward to them; for their memory is lost. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, have now perished; yea, there is no portion for them any more for ever in all that is done under the sun. 7 Go, eat thy bread with mirth, and drink thy wine with a joyful heart; for now God has favourably accepted thy works. 8 Let thy garments be always white; and let not oil be wanting on thine head. 9 And see life with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which are given thee under the sun: for that is thy portion in thy life, and in thy labour wherein thou labourest under the sun. 10 Whatsoever thine hand shall find to do, do with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Hades whither thou goest. 11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet wealth to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of knowledge; for time and chance will happen to them all. 12 For surely man also knows not his time: as fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as birds that are caught in a snare; even thus the sons of men are snared at an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This I also saw [to be] wisdom under the sun, and it is great before me: 14 [suppose there were] a little city, and few men in it; and there should come against it a great king, and surround it, and build great mounds against it; 15 and should find in it a poor wise man, and he should save the city through his wisdom: yet no man would remember that poor man. 16 And I said, Wisdom is better than power: yet the wisdom of the poor man is set at nought, and his words not listened to. 17 The words of the wise are heard in quiet more than the cry of them that rule in folly. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: and one sinner will destroy much good.