The Value of Practical Wisdom

7 A agood name is better than precious ointment,

And the day of death than the day of one’s bbirth;

2 Better to go to the house of mourning

Than to go to the house of feasting,

For that is the end of all men;

And the living will take it to cheart.

3 1Sorrow is better than laughter,

dFor by a sad countenance the heart is made 2better.

4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

5 eIt is better to 3hear the rebuke of the wise

Than for a man to hear the song of fools.

6 fFor like the 4crackling of thorns under a pot,

So is the laughter of the fool.

This also is vanity.

7 Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason,

gAnd a bribe 5debases the heart.

8 The end of a thing is better than its beginning;

hThe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

9 iDo not hasten in your spirit to be angry,

For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

10 Do not say,

“Why were the former days better than these?”

For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

And profitable jto those who see the sun.

12 For wisdom is 6a kdefense as money is a defense,

But the 7excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives llife to those who have it.

13 Consider the work of God;

For mwho can make straight what He has made crooked?

14 nIn the day of prosperity be joyful,

But in the day of adversity consider:

Surely God has appointed the one 8as well as the other,

So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

15 I have seen everything in my days of vanity:

oThere is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,

And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.

16 pDo not be overly righteous,

qNor be overly wise:

Why should you destroy yourself?

17 Do not be overly wicked,

Nor be foolish:

rWhy should you die before your time?

18 It is good that you grasp this,

And also not remove your hand from the other;

For he who sfears God will 9escape them all.

19 tWisdom strengthens the wise

More than ten rulers of the city.

20 uFor there is not a just man on earth who does good

And does not sin.

21 Also do not take to heart everything people say,

Lest you hear your servant cursing you.

22 For many times, also, your own heart has known

That even you have cursed others.

23 All this I have 1proved by wisdom.

vI said, “I will be wise”;

But it was far from me.

24 wAs for that which is far off and xexceedingly deep,

Who can find it out?

25 yI applied my heart to know,

To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things,

To know the wickedness of folly,

Even of foolishness and madness.

26 zAnd I find more bitter than death

The woman whose heart is snares and nets,

Whose hands are fetters.

2He who pleases God shall escape from her,

But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

27 “Here is what I have found,” says athe Preacher,

“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,

28 Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:

bOne man among a thousand I have found,

But a woman among all these I have not found.

29 Truly, this only I have found:

cThat God made man upright,

But dthey have sought out many schemes.”