Ecclesiastes 7

1A good name is better than fine oil, and the day of death better than the day of one's birth.

2Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of every human, and the living one should lay it on his heart.

3Grief is better than laughter, for by a sad face the heart is made better.

4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, while the heart of fools is in the house of joy.

5It is better to hear a wise man's rebuke than for any man to hear the song of fools.

6For as the sound of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

7Surely oppression makes the wise foolish, and a gift destroys the heart.

8Better is the end of a matter than its beginning; a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.

9Do not let your spirit hasten to anger, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

10Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" for you have not inquired wisely about this.

11Wisdom is good with an inheritance—even better for those who see the sun.

12For wisdom provides protection as money does, and knowledge's advantage is wisdom keeping its possessors alive.

13Look at God's work, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?

14Rejoice in the day of good, and consider in the day of evil; God also has made one opposite the other, to the end that man should not find anything after him.

15I have seen everything in my days of vanity: a righteous man is destroyed in his righteousness, and a wicked man prolongs his life in his evil.

16Do not be too righteous, nor make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

17Do not be wicked beyond measure, nor be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

18It is good that you grasp this; also do not release your hand from that, for whoever fears God will come forth from them all.

19Wisdom makes the wise stronger than ten rulers in the city.

20For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.

21Also, do not give your heart to all the words that people speak, lest you hear your servant curse you.

22For often your heart knows that you yourself have also cursed others.

23I have tried all this with wisdom; I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me.

24What has been is far, and deep, deep—who can find it?

25I directed my heart to know, to explore, and to seek wisdom and reason, and to know that wickedness is folly and the foolishness is madness.

26I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are bonds; whoever stands before God fares better, escaping from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

27See, this is what I have found, says the Preacher: one by one, to find the reckoning.

28which my soul still seeks, but I have not found; one man out of a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found.

29See, this alone have I found: God made man upright, but they have sought many schemes.