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NASB | Ecclesiastes 7:16 Do not be excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ecclesiastes 7:16 Do not be excessively righteous [like those given to self-conceit], and do not be overly wise (pretentious)--why should you bring yourself to ruin? |
Bible Question (short): Don't be too righteous; nor too wicked? |
Question (full): I would like to discuss this verse (Ecc 7:15-18), as well as Ecclesiates generally. This verse seems to expound a human wisdom: that, being radical for what is good is very costly, so one leads a happier life with some compromise with evil. The one who fears God will succeed in holding both good and evil simultaneously (v18). I notice the lengths the amplified version goes to, to rationalize this verse with our usual sense of scripture. Their rendering, however, seems to distort the sense of the text - especially taking the book as a whole. In many ways this is a cynical book, seeing no merit in righteousness. For all mortals come to the same end anyway. Even pursuing holiness and wisdom is vanity. (Thanks be to Jesus Christ, who rescues us from the vanity of life!) So, as the wise Teacher brings forward the critique of Vanity, what are we to hold onto? He offers advice here and there, but (as we see in this verse) it is not always good advice. It represents a human seeking after the good life, and often discovers only arbitrariness in God, and certainty in death. How do we weigh this advice? Yours, JRM. (P.S. the forum has another discussion of this passage, at Ecc7:18. Somehow it became a discussion of Balance, forgetting the text commends a balance of good and evil.) |
Down View Branch | ID# 110603 | ||
Questions and/or Subjects for Eccl 7:16 | Author | ||
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Just Read Mark | ||
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kalos | ||
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Just Read Mark | ||
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Morant61 |