Wisdom

1A good name is better than fine perfume,

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

2It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting,

for death is the destiny of everyone;

the living should take this to heart.

3Frustration is better than laughter,

because a sad face is good for the heart.

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

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

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

than to listen to the song of fools.

6Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,

so is the laughter of fools.

This too is meaningless.

7Extortion turns a wise person into a fool,

and a bribe corrupts the heart.

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

and patience is better than pride.

9Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,

for anger resides in the lap of fools.

10Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’

For it is not wise to ask such questions.

11Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing

and benefits those who see the sun.

12Wisdom is a shelter

as money is a shelter,

but the advantage of knowledge is this:

wisdom preserves those who have it.

13Consider what God has done:

who can straighten

what he has made crooked?

14When times are good, be happy;

but when times are bad, consider this:

God has made the one

as well as the other.

Therefore, no-one can discover

anything about their future.

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

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,

and the wicked living long in their wickedness.

16Do not be over-righteous,

neither be overwise –

why destroy yourself?

17Do not be overwicked,

and do not be a fool –

why die before your time?

18It is good to grasp the one

and not let go of the other.

Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.7:18 Or will follow them both

19Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful

than ten rulers in a city.

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

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

21Do not pay attention to every word people say,

or you may hear your servant cursing you –

22for you know in your heart

that many times you yourself have cursed others.

23All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

‘I am determined to be wise’ –

but this was beyond me.

24Whatever exists is far off and most profound –

who can discover it?

25So I turned my mind to understand,

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

and to understand the stupidity of wickedness

and the madness of folly.

26I find more bitter than death

the woman who is a snare,

whose heart is a trap

and whose hands are chains.

The man who pleases God will escape her,

but the sinner she will ensnare.

27‘Look,’ says the Teacher,7:27 Or the leader of the assembly ‘this is what I have discovered:

‘Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things –

28while I was still searching

but not finding –

I found one upright man among a thousand,

but not one upright woman among them all.

29This only have I found:

God created mankind upright,

but they have gone in search of many schemes.’