Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?
- KJV Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
- NKJV Do not be overly wicked, Nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time?
- NASB Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you die before your time?
- NLT On the other hand, don’t be too wicked either. Don’t be a fool! Why die before your time?
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 be excessively wicked or foolish, lest you die before your time. It matters because reckless sin and folly invite premature ruin.
Overview
Balancing the previous verse, the Preacher warns against the opposite extreme of deliberate wickedness and folly, which can hasten death (Proverbs 10:27). The pairing rejects both self-righteous pride and reckless sin. The way of wisdom lies in the fear of God, which alone preserves life, a fullness of life ultimately found in Christ rather than in any human balancing act.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 10:27The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
- Ps 55:23But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.
- Job 22:16They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.
- Acts 12:23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Acts 5:10At that instant she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
- Acts 5:5On hearing these words, Ananias fell down and died. And great fear came over all who heard what had happened.
- 1 Sam 25:38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.
- Gen 38:7–10But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.
- Job 15:32–33It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish.
- Jas 1:21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
- Jer 2:33–34How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.
- Ezek 8:17“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!
- Ezek 16:20You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
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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 7:17 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
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