Ecclesiastes 7:17
Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time?
Bible in Basic English
In The King James Version
Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
In Context
16Be not given overmuch to righteousness and be not over-wise. Why let destruction come on you?
Cross References
Genesis 38:7Now Er, Judah's first son, did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death.
Job 15:32His branch is cut off before its time, and his leaf is no longer green.
Psalms 55:23\55:22\Put your cares on the Lord, and he will be your support; he will not let the upright man be moved.
Jeremiah 2:33With what care are your ways ordered when you are looking for love! so ... your ways.
Ezekiel 16:20And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing,
Acts 5:10And straight away she went down at his feet, and her life went from her: and the young men came in and saw her dead, and they took her out and put her in the earth with her husband.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 7:12-23
The Advantages of Wisdom. 11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun. 12 For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. 13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.… Read the whole commentary →