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Wisdom and Folly Contrasted

¹ Better is a ^(C1)good name than good oil,
And better is the ^(C2)day of one's death than the day of one's birth.

² Better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting
Because ^(F1)that is the ^(C1)end of all mankind,
And the living ^(C2)puts this in his heart.

^3 (C1)Better is vexation than laughter,
For ^(C2)when a face is sad a heart may be merry.

⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
While the heart of fools is in the house of gladness.

⁵ Better to ^(C1)listen to the rebuke of a wise man
Than for one to listen to the song of fools.

⁶ For as the crackling sound of ^(C1)thorn bushes under a pot,
So is the ^(C2)laughter of the fool;
And this too is vanity.

⁷ For ^(C1)oppression gives a wise man over to madness,
And a ^(C2)bribe ^(F1)destroys the heart.

⁸ Better is the ^(C1)end of a matter than its beginning;
^(C2)Better is patience of spirit than haughtiness of spirit.

⁹ Do not be ^(F1)(C1)eager in your spirit to be vexed,
For vexation rests in the bosom of fools.

¹⁰ Do not say, "Why is it that the former days were better than these?"
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

¹¹ Wisdom along with an inheritance is good
And an ^(C1)advantage to those who see the sun.

¹² For ^(C1)wisdom is a ^(C2)shadow of protection as money is a shadow of protection,
And the advantage of knowledge is that ^(C3)wisdom preserves the lives of its masters.

¹³ See the ^(C1)work of God,
For who is ^(C2)able to straighten what He has bent?

^14 (C1)In the day when there is good be of good cheer,
But ^(C2)in the day when there is evil see—
God has made the one as well as the other
So that man will ^(C3)not find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵ I have seen everything during my ^(C1)days of vanity; there is ^(C2)a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is ^(C3)a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.¹⁶ Do not be excessively ^(C1)righteous, and do not ^(C2)be overly wise. Why should you make yourself desolate?¹⁷ Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be a simpleminded fool. Why should you ^(C1)die before your time?¹⁸ It is good that you seize one thing and also not ^(F1)let go of the other; for the one who ^(C1)fears God comes forth with ^(F2)both of them.

^19 (C1)Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten men with power who are in a city.²⁰ Indeed, ^(C1)there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.²¹ Also, do not give your heart to all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your slave ^(C1)cursing you.²² For your heart also knows that you likewise have many times cursed others.

²³ I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, "I will be wise," ^(C1)but it was far from me.²⁴ What has been is far away and ^(C1)exceedingly deep. ^(C2)Who can find it?²⁵ I ^(C1)turned my heart to know, to explore, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the wickedness of foolishness and the simpleminded folly of madness.²⁶ And I found more ^(C1)bitter than death the woman whose heart is ^(C2)snares and nets, whose hands are chains. ^(C3)One who is good before God will escape from her, but ^(C4)the sinner will be captured by her.

²⁷ "See, I have found this," says the Preacher, "adding one thing to another to find an explanation,²⁸ which my soul still seeks but has not found. I have found one man out of a thousand, but I have not found a ^(C1)woman among all these.²⁹ "See, I have found only this, that ^(C1)God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices."