Passage Research
Ecclesiastes 7 — Sermon Preparation
A string of wisdom sayings contrasts the end of things with their beginning, and praises patient endurance over foolish laughter. Below is a research summary for Ecclesiastes 7, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 29
- verses
- 330 / 150
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 10
- classic sermon excerpts
- 5
- preachers & commentators
Ecclesiastes 7 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| טוֹב | ṭôwb | H2896 | 14 | good |
| מָצָא | mâtsâʼ | H4672 | 9 | come, appear |
| לֵב | lêb | H3820 | 9 | heart, feelings |
| חׇכְמָה | chokmâh | H2451 | 7 | wisdom |
| כְּסִיל | kᵉçîyl | H3684 | 4 | fat, stupid |
| רָאָה | râʼâh | H7200 | 6 | see |
| אָדָם | ʼâdâm | H120 | 5 | ruddy, human being |
How preachers through history handled this text
10 public-domain excerpts on Ecclesiastes 7, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“FINIS CORONAT OPUS Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.'--ECCLES. vii. 8. This Book of Ecclesiastes is the record of a quest after the chief good. The Preacher tries one thing after another, and tells his experiences. Amongst these are many blunders. It is the final lesson which he would have us learn, not the errors through which he reached it. The conclusion of the whole matter' is what he would commend to us, and to it he cleaves his way through a number of bitter exaggerations and of partial truths and of unmingled errors. …”
— Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of the Holy Scriptures: Second Kings from Chap., on Ecclesiastes 7:8–30 (Public Domain)
Need the complete sermon prep report on this passage?
Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on Ecclesiastes 7, delivered within 24 hours.