Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is unwise of you to ask about this.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this.
- KJV Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.
- NKJV Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.
- NASB Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
- NLT Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Don't ask why the former days were better than now, for that is not a wise question. It matters because idealizing the past breeds discontent and ingratitude toward God's present providence.
Overview
The Preacher rebukes nostalgic complaining that the 'good old days' were better, exposing it as unwise. Such longing distorts reality and questions God's ordering of the present. Wisdom instead trusts God's hand in every season (3:1-8), receiving today as His gift and walking by faith rather than romanticizing a vanished past.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 14:2–3The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.
- Judg 6:13“Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”
- Rom 1:22–32Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Gen 6:11–12Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.
- Isa 50:1This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
- Jer 44:17–19Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
- Rom 3:9–19What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin.
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 7:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.