The Value of Wisdom
1 A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.
2 It is 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 should take this to heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
for from a sorrowful countenance the heart is made good.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the praise of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of the fool. This also is meaningless.
7 Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish,
and a bribe destroys understanding.
8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.
The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 Do not let your spirit be quick to anger,
for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For this is not a wise question to ask.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance,
and by it there is profit to all who see the sun.
12 For wisdom is a defense, just as money is a defense,
but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
13 Consider the work of God,
for who can make straight that which he has made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful,
and in the day of adversity consider this:
God has made one alongside the other
so that man should find nothing after him.
Limits of Human Wisdom
15 All this I have seen in my worthless days:
There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness,
and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evil ways.
16 Do not be overly righteous, nor make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
17 Do not be too wicked, nor be foolish. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should grasp this. Yes, do not let go of it either, for he who fears God will escape all extremes.
19 Wisdom makes one wise person
more powerful than ten rulers in a city.
20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth
who does good and does not sin.
21 Also do not take to heart every word that is spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you. 22 For your own heart knows that many times you yourself have likewise cursed others.
23 All this I have tested through wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it? 25 I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness. 26 I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner will be ensnared by her.
27 “I have found this,” says the Preacher, “adding one detail to another to discover an explanation, 28 for which I continue to seek but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among them. 29 I have only found this: that God made man upright, but mankind searches for many schemes.”