Ecclesiastes 7:5–14

5  It is lbetter for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise

than to hear the song of fools.

6  mFor as the crackling of nthorns under a pot,

so is the laughter of the fools;

this also is vanity.1

7  Surely ooppression drives the wise into madness,

and pa bribe corrupts the heart.

8  Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,

and qthe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

9  rBe not quick in your spirit to become angry,

sfor anger lodges in the heart2 of fools.

10  Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”

For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

11  Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

an advantage to those who tsee the sun.

12  For the protection of wisdom is like uthe protection of money,

and the advantage of knowledge is that vwisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

13  Consider wthe work of God:

xwho can make straight what he has made crooked?

14 yIn the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, zso that man may not find out anything that will be after him.