14 In a day of prosperity be in gladness, And in a day of evil consider. Also this over-against that hath God made, To the intent that man doth not find anything after him.
And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it `is' his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him?
A time to weep, And a time to laugh. A time to mourn, And a time to skip.
And He poureth on him fury, His anger, and the strength of battle, And it setteth him on fire round about, And he hath not known, And it burneth against him, and he layeth it not to heart!
Doth any one suffer evil among you? let him pray; is any of good cheer? let him sing psalms;
`And ye, therefore, now, indeed, have sorrow; and again I will see you, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one doth take from you, and in that day ye will question me nothing; verily, verily, I say to you, as many things as ye may ask of the Father in my name, He will give you;
`And having come to himself, he said, How many hirelings of my father have a superabundance of bread, and I here with hunger am perishing! having risen, I will go on unto my father, and will say to him, Father, I did sin -- to the heaven, and before thee,
And now, thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Set your heart to your ways. Ye have sown much, and brought in little, To eat, and not to satiety, To drink, and not to drunkenness, To clothe, and none hath heat, And he who is hiring himself out, Is hiring himself for a bag pierced through. Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Set your heart to your ways.
A voice of Jehovah to the city calleth, And wisdom doth fear Thy name, Hear ye the rod, and Him who appointed it.
Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find. And she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For -- better to me then than now.
The anger of Jehovah doth not turn back Till His doing, and till His establishing, The thoughts of His heart, In the latter end of the days ye attend to it With understanding.
`And He doth humble thee, and cause thee to hunger and doth cause thee to eat the manna (which thou hast not known, even thy fathers have not known), in order to cause thee to know that not by bread alone doth man live, but by every produce of the mouth of Jehovah man doth live.
And call doth the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, In that day, to weeping and to lamentation, And to baldness and to girding on of sackcloth, And lo, joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, And slaughtering of sheep, Eating of flesh, and drinking of wine, Eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. And revealed it hath been in mine ears, `By' Jehovah of Hosts: Not pardoned is this iniquity to you, Till ye die, said the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts.
The end of the whole matter let us hear: -- `Fear God, and keep His commands, for this `is' the whole of man.
Good for me that I have been afflicted, That I might learn Thy statutes.
O the happiness of the man Whom Thou instructest, O Jah, And out of Thy law teachest him, To give rest to him from days of evil, While a pit is digged for the wicked.
Thou hast turned my mourning to dancing for me, Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, And girdest me `with' joy. So that honour doth praise Thee, and is not silent, O Jehovah, my God, to the age I thank Thee!
My soul hath been weary of my life, I leave off my talking to myself, I speak in the bitterness of my soul. I say unto God, `Do not condemn me, Let me know why Thou dost strive `with' me.
And when he is in distress he hath appeased the face of Jehovah his God, and is humbled exceedingly before the God of his fathers, and prayeth unto Him, and He is entreated of him, and heareth his supplication, and bringeth him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom, and Manasseh knoweth that Jehovah -- He `is' God.
And it cometh to pass, after these things, the son of the woman, mistress of the house, hath been sick, and his sickness is very severe till that no breath hath been left in him. And she saith unto Elijah, `What -- to me and to thee, O man of God? thou hast come unto me to cause mine iniquity to be remembered, 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,