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OET-RV ECC Chapter 7

OETECC 7 ©

This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.

7:1The life

7A good reputation is better than expensive perfume,[ref]

and the day you die is more important than the day of your birth.

2It’s better to go to a house where there’s mourning than to a house where there’s a party,

because death is the end of each person,

and those still alive should consider this in their hearts.

3Laughter is better than grief

because a serious face means that the mind is working.

4Wise people do their thinking at a funeral,

whereas foolish people prefer to spend time at a party.

5It’s better to accept a rebuke from a wise person

than to listen to the songs from foolish people,

6because the laughter of a fool

is like the crackling of burning thorn twigs under a cooking pot—

that’s also pointless.

7Oppression drives a wise person insane,

and a bribe destroys a person’s morals.

8Finishing something is better than starting it,

and being patient is better than being proud.

9Don’t be quick to get angry,[ref]

because anger belongs in a fool’s toolbox.

10Don’t ask, “What was it about the old days that were better than these?”

because that question doesn’t display wisdom.

11Wisdom is good when you get an inheritance,

and it’s an advantage to those doing well.

12Wisdom can protect us just like money can,

but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

13Look at God’s work:

who can straighten what he’s made crooked?

14Be happy on a good day,

but on a day of problems, consider this:

God caused one, as well as the other

humanity can’t discover what’s going to come next.

15I’ve seen everything in my days of pointlessness:

There’s godly people dying despite doing everything right,

and there are wicked people living long lives doing evil.

16Don’t be highly righteous or overly wise—

Why go to the trouble of destroying yourself?

17Don’t be very wicked and don’t be a fool—

why should you die when it’s not your time?

18It’s good to take hold of wisdom and don’t rest from doing what is right,

because the godly person should continue with both of them.

19Wisdom gives strength to the wise—

more than the ten most powerful men in the city.

20But yes, there’s no person on the earth who’s truly good,

only doing what is right and never disobeying.

21Don’t give your attention to everything that people say,

otherwise you might hear your servant speaking against you,

22because you know how often you’ve belittled others yourself.


23I tested all of that with wisdom.

I said, “Let me be wise,” but it eluded me.

24It seemed far away

and deeper down than anyone can find.

25I changed my mind’s direction to try to learn and explore—

to search for wisdom and to understand how things work,

and to understand the foolishness of wickedness and how that leads to madness.


26I learnt that a woman who takes advantage of you leads to more bitterness than death would be

her heart is like a net and her hands become chains.

Any person that’s good in God’s eyes would escape from her,

but an ungodly person would end up captured by her.

27The leader has discovered that—

adding one thing to another to try to find an explanation for everything.

28I continually tried to learn more, but I didn’t find it.

I found one special man out of a thousand

but I couldn’t find one such woman out of all of them.

29This is the only conclusion I came to:

God made humankind to do good, but instead they’ve come up with many other kinds of schemes.


7:1: Prv 22:1.

7:9: Jam 1:19.

OETECC 7 ©

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