Read the Bible

¹ Better [is] a name than good perfume, || And the day of death than the day of birth.² Better to go to a house of mourning, || Than to go to a house of banqueting, || For that is the end of all men, || And the living lays [it] to his heart.³ Better [is] sorrow than laughter, || For by the sadness of the face the heart becomes better.⁴ The heart of the wise [is] in a house of mourning, || And the heart of fools in a house of mirth.⁵ Better to hear a rebuke of a wise man, || Than [for] a man to hear a song of fools,⁶ For as the noise of thorns under the pot, || So [is] the laughter of a fool, even this [is] vanity.

⁷ Surely oppression makes the wise mad, || And a gift destroys the heart.⁸ Better [is] the latter end of a thing than its beginning, || Better [is] the patient of spirit, than the haughty of spirit.⁹ Do not be hasty in your spirit to be angry, || For anger in the bosom of fools rests.¹⁰ Do not say, "What was it, || That the former days were better than these?" For you have not asked wisely of this.

¹¹ Wisdom [is] good with an inheritance, || And an advantage [it is] to those beholding the sun.¹² For wisdom [is] a defense, money [is] a defense, || And the advantage of the knowledge of wisdom [is], || She revives her possessors.¹³ See the work of God, || For who is able to make straight that which He made crooked?¹⁴ In a day of prosperity be in gladness, || And in a day of calamity consider: God has also made this alongside of that, || To the intent that man does not find anything after him.¹⁵ The whole I have considered in the days of my vanity. There is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wrongdoer prolonging [himself] in his wrong.¹⁶ Do not be over-righteous, nor show yourself too wise, why are you desolate?¹⁷ Do not do much wrong, neither be a fool, why do you die within your time?¹⁸ [It is] good that you lay hold on this, and also, do not withdraw your hand from that, for whoever is fearing God goes out with them all.¹⁹ The wisdom gives strength to a wise man, more than wealth the rulers who have been in a city.²⁰ Because there is not a righteous man on earth that does good and does not sin.²¹ Also to all the words that they speak do not give your heart, that you do not hear your servant reviling you.²² For many times also has your heart known that you yourself have also reviled others.

²³ All this I have tried by wisdom; I have said, "I am wise," and it [is] far from me.²⁴ Far off [is] that which has been, and deep, deep, who finds it?²⁵ I have turned around, also my heart, to know and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and reason, and to know the wrong of folly, and the madness of foolishness.²⁶ And I am finding more bitter than death, the woman whose heart [is] nets and snares, her hands [are] bands; the good before God escapes from her, but the sinner is captured by her.²⁷ See, this I have found, said the Preacher, one to one, to find out the reason²⁸ (that still my soul had sought, and I had not found), || One man, a teacher, I have found, and a woman among all these I have not found.²⁹ See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they have sought out many inventions.