Wisdom

7 A good name is better than fine perfume,u

and the day of death better than the day of birth.v

2 It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting,

for deathw is the destinyx of everyone;

the living should take this to heart.

3 Frustration is better than laughter,y

because a sad face is good for the heart.

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

but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.z

5 It is better to heed the rebukea of a wise person

than to listen to the song of fools.

6 Like the crackling of thornsb under the pot,

so is the laughterc of fools.

This too is meaningless.

7 Extortion turns a wise person into a fool,

and a bribed corrupts the heart.

8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning,

and patiencee is better than pride.

9 Do not be quickly provokedf in your spirit,

for anger resides in the lap of fools.g

10 Do not say, “Why were the old daysh better than these?”

For it is not wise to ask such questions.

11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thingi

and benefits those who see the sun.j

12 Wisdom is a shelter

as money is a shelter,

but the advantage of knowledge is this:

Wisdom preserves those who have it.

13 Consider what God has done:k

Who can straighten

what he has made crooked?l

14 When times are good, be happy;

but when times are bad, consider this:

God has made the one

as well as the other.m

Therefore, no one can discover

anything about their future.

15 In this meaningless lifen of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,

and the wicked living long in their wickedness.o

16 Do not be overrighteous,

neither be overwise—

why destroy yourself?

17 Do not be overwicked,

and do not be a fool—

why die before your time?p

18 It is good to grasp the one

and not let go of the other.

Whoever fears Godq will avoid all extremes.a

19 Wisdomr makes one wise person more powerfuls

than ten rulers in a city.

20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,t

no one who does what is right and never sins.u

21 Do not pay attention to every word people say,

or youv may hear your servant cursing you—

22 for you know in your heart

that many times you yourself have cursed others.

23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

“I am determined to be wise”w—

but this was beyond me.

24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound—

who can discover it?x

25 So I turned my mind to understand,

to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of thingsy

and to understand the stupidity of wickedness

and the madness of folly.z

26 I find more bitter than death

the woman who is a snare,a

whose heart is a trap

and whose hands are chains.

The man who pleases God will escape her,

but the sinner she will ensnare.b

27 “Look,” says the Teacher,b c “this is what I have discovered:

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—

28 while I was still searching

but not finding—

I found one upright man among a thousand,

but not one upright womand among them all.

29 This only have I found:

God created mankind upright,

but they have gone in search of many schemes.”