7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.
7:2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man the living should take this to heart.
7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.
7:4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
7:5 It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to the song of fools.
7:6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.
7:7 Extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
7:8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.
7:9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
7:10 Do not say, Why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions.
7:11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.
7:12 Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
7:13 Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?
7:14 When times are good, be happy but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
7:15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.
7:16 Do not be over-righteous, neither be overwise why destroy yourself?
7:17 Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool why die before your time?
7:18 It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. [Or will follow them both]
7:19 Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful than ten rulers in a city.
7:20 There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.
7:21 Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you
7:22 for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.
7:23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said, I am determined to be wise but this was beyond me.
7:24 Whatever wisdom may be, it is far off and most profound who can discover it?
7:25 So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly.
7:26 I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.
7:27 Look, says the Teacher, [Or leader of the assembly] this is what I have discovered: Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things
7:28 while I was still searching but not finding I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.
7:29 This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.