7:1
Better a good name than costly oil, the day of death than the day of birth.
7:2
Better go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting; for to this end everyone comes, let the living take this to heart.
7:3
Better sadness than laughter: a joyful heart may be concealed behind sad looks.
7:4
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, the heart of fools in the house of gaiety.
7:5
Better attend to the reprimand of the wise than listen to a song sung by a fool.
7:6
For like the crackling of thorns under the cauldron is the laughter of fools: and that too is futile.
7:7
But being oppressed drives a sage mad, and a present corrupts the heart.
7:8
Better the end of a matter than its beginning, better patience than ambition.
7:9
Do not be too easily exasperated, for exasperation dwells in the heart of fools.
7:10
Do not ask why the past was better than the present, for this is not a question prompted by wisdom.
7:11
Wisdom is as good as a legacy, profitable to those who enjoy the light of the sun.
7:12
For as money protects, so does wisdom, and the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom bestows life on those who possess her.
7:13
Consider God's creation: who, for instance, can straighten what God has bent?
7:14
When things are going well, enjoy yourself, and when they are going badly, consider this: God has designed the one no less than the other so that we should take nothing for granted.
7:15
In my futile life, I have seen everything: the upright person perishing in uprightness and the wicked person surviving in wickedness.
7:16
Do not be upright to excess and do not make yourself unduly wise: why should you destroy yourself?
7:17
Do not be wicked to excess, and do not be a fool: why die before your time?
7:18
It is wise to hold on to one and not let go of the other, since the godfearing will find both.
7:19
Wisdom makes the wise stronger than a dozen governors in a city.
7:20
No one on earth is sufficiently upright to do good without ever sinning.
7:21
Again, do not listen to all that people say, then you will not hear your servant abusing you.
7:22
For often, as you very well know, you have abused others.
7:23
Thanks to wisdom, I have found all this to be true; I resolved to be wise, but this was beyond my reach!
7:24
The past is out of reach, buried deep -- who can discover it?
7:25
But I have reached the point where, having learnt, explored and investigated wisdom and reflection, I recognise evil as being a form of madness, and folly as something stupid.
7:26
And I find woman more bitter than Death, she is a snare, her heart is a net, and her arms are chains. The man who is pleasing to God eludes her, but the sinner is captured by her.
7:27
This is what I think, says Qoheleth, having examined one thing after another to draw some conclusion,
7:28
which I am still looking for, although unsuccessfully: one man in a thousand, I may find, but a woman better than other women-never.
7:29
This alone is my conclusion: God has created man straightforward, and human artifices are human inventions.
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