Ecclesiastes 7:7 - The Scriptures 1998

⁷ For oppression makes a wise one mad, and a bribe destroys the heart.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

⁷ Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

⁷ Surely oppression and extortion make a wise man foolish, and a bribe destroys the understanding and judgment.

American Standard Version (1901)

⁷ Surely extortion maketh the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroyeth the understanding.

Common English Bible

⁷ Oppression turns the wise into fools; a bribe corrupts the heart.

Catholic Public Domain Version

⁷ For, like the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of the foolish. But this, too, is emptiness.

Ecclesiastes 7:7 Cross References

Exodus 23:8

“And do not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the seeing one and twists the words of the righteous.

Proverbs 17:23

One who is wrong accepts a bribe behind the back To pervert the paths of right-ruling.

Proverbs 17:8

A bribe is a stone of favour in the eyes of its owner; Wherever he turns, he prospers.

Ecclesiastes 4:1

Then I looked again at all the oppression that is done under the sun: And see! The tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter; and power on the side of their oppressors, but they have no comforter.

Ecclesiastes 5:8

If you see the oppression of the poor, and denial of right-ruling and righteousness in a province, do not be astonished at the matter. For a higher than the high is guarding, and there are higher ones over them.

Ecclesiastes 8:9

All this I have seen; I applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which a man rules over a man for his evil.

Isaiah 1:23

Your rulers are stubborn, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and runs after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow reach them.

Isaiah 33:15

He who walks righteously and speaks what is straight, he who rejects the gain of oppressions, who keeps his hands from accepting bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil –

Deuteronomy 16:19

“Do not distort right-ruling. Do not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 28:65

“And among those nations you are to find no rest, nor have a resting place for the sole of your foot. But there יהוה  shall give you a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and sorrow of being.

1 Samuel 12:3

“Look, here I am. Witness against me before יהוה  and before His anointed: Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I oppressed? Whom have I abused, or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes? – then I restore it to you.”

1 Samuel 21:14

Then Aḵ

1 Samuel 8:3

But his sons did not walk in his ways, and turned aside after own gain, and took bribes, and twisted right-ruling.