The Teacher, Chapter 7

A good name is better than precious perfumes,
as the day of death is better than the day of one's birth.

It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for death is the end of all men;
and the living should take this to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter:
for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise,
than to hear the song of fools.
For the laughter of the fool is as the crackling of thorns under a pot.
This also is vanity.

Extortion makes a wise man mad,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning:
and patience is better than pride.

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry,
for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Say not thou,
“What is the cause that the former days were better than these?”
For thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

Wisdom is good as an inheritance:
and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.

For wisdom is a shelter. Also money is a shelter,
but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life to those that have it.

Consider the state of our universe:
for who can make straight that which is crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider:
joy and adversity exist everywhere,
to the end that man can find nothing of what will come.

In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness,
and there is a wicked man that lives long in his wickedness.

Be not over righteous,
nor over wise:
why should thou destroy thyself ?

Be not over wicked,
neither be thou foolish:
why should thou die before thy time?

It is good that thou should take hold of one,
and not remove thy hand from the other.
for he that avoids these extremes escapes them all.

Wisdom strengthens the wise
more than ten mighty rulers of the city.

For there is not a just man upon earth,
that does good, and does not sin.

Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken;
lest thou hear a servant’s curse.
For oftentimes also thine own heart knows
that thou thyself likewise has cursed others.

All this have I tested by wisdom and I said:
“I will become wise.” But it was beyond me.

Wisdom is far off, and exceeding profound -
who can find it out?

I applied my heart to know, and to search,
and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things,
and to know the wickedness of folly,
even of foolishness and madness:

And I find more bitter than death,
the woman who snares, whose heart is a trap, whose hands are chains.
A moderate man shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be ensnared.

“Behold, this have I found,” said the preacher,
“adding one thing to another, to uncover the reason which my soul seeks,
but does not yet find:
one man among a thousand have I found,
but a woman among all those have I not found.

Lo, this only have I found:
that although man may be upright,
he cannot cease to search for meaning.