14 In the day of wealth have joy, but in the day of evil take thought: God has put the one against the other, so that man may not be certain what will be after him.
So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?
A time for weeping and a time for laughing; a time for sorrow and a time for dancing;
For this reason he let loose on him the heat of his wrath, and his strength was like a flame; and it put fire round about him, but he did not see it; he was burned, but did not take it to heart.
Is anyone among you in trouble? let him say prayers. Is anyone glad? let him make a song of praise.
So you have sorrow now: but I will see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and no one will take away your joy. And on that day you will put no questions to me. Truly I say to you, Whatever request you make to the Father, he will give it to you in my name.
But when he came to his senses, he said, What numbers of my father's servants have bread enough, and more, while I am near to death here through need of food! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have done wrong, against heaven and in your eyes:
For this cause the Lord of armies has said, Give thought to your ways. Much has been planted, but little got in; you take food, but have not enough; you take drink, but are not full; you are clothed, but no one is warm; and he who gets payment for his work, gets it to put it into a bag full of holes. This is what the Lord of armies has said: Give thought to your ways.
The voice of the Lord is crying out to the town: Give ear, you tribes and the meeting of the town.
For this cause I will put thorns in her road, building up a wall round her so that she may not go on her way. And if she goes after her lovers she will not overtake them; if she makes search for them she will not see them; then will she say, I will go back to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.
The wrath of the Lord will not be turned back till he has done, till he has put into effect, the purposes of his heart: in days to come you will have full knowledge of this.
And he made low your pride and let you be without food and gave you manna for your food, a thing new to you, which your fathers never saw; so that he might make it clear to you that bread is not man's only need, but his life is in every word which comes out of the mouth of the Lord.
And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief: But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes. And the Lord of armies said to me secretly, Truly, this sin will not be taken from you till your death, says the Lord, the Lord of armies.
This is the last word. All has been said. Have fear of God and keep his laws; because this is right for every man.
It is good for me to have been through trouble; so that I might come to the knowledge of your rules.
Happy is the man who is guided by you, O Jah, and to whom you give teaching out of your law; So that you may give him rest from the days of evil, till a hole is made ready for the destruction of the sinners.
By you my sorrow is turned into dancing; you have taken away my clothing of grief, and given me robes of joy; So that my glory may make songs of praise to you and not be quiet. O Lord my God, I will give you praise for ever.
My soul is tired of life; I will let my sad thoughts go free in words; my soul will make a bitter outcry. I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.
And crying out to the Lord his God in his trouble, he made himself low before the God of his fathers, And made prayer to him; and in answer to his prayer God let him come back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh was certain that the Lord was God.
Now after this, the son of the woman of the house became ill, so ill that there was no breath in him. And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O man of God? have you come to put God in mind of my sin, and to put my son to death?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
Solomon had given many proofs and instances of the vanity of this world and the things of it; now, in this chapter,
Ecc 7:1-6
In these verses Solomon lays down some great truths which seem paradoxes to the unthinking part, that is, the far greatest part, of mankind.
Ecc 7:7-10
Solomon had often complained before of the oppressions which he saw under the sun, which gave occasion for many melancholy speculations and were a great discouragement to virtue and piety. Now here,
Ecc 7:11-22
Solomon, in these verses, recommends wisdom to us as the best antidote against those distempers of mind which we are liable to, by reason of the vanity and vexation of spirit that there are in the things of this world. Here are some of the praises and the precepts of wisdom.
Ecc 7:23-29
Solomon had hitherto been proving the vanity of the world and its utter insufficiency to make men happy; now here he comes to show the vileness of sin, and its certain tendency to make men miserable; and this, as the former, he proves from his own experience, and it was a dear-bought experience. He is here, more than any where in all this book, putting on the habit of a penitent. He reviews what he had been discoursing of already, and tells us that what he had said was what he knew and was well assured of, and what he resolved to stand by: All this have I proved by wisdom, v. 23. Now here,