1A good name is better than costly perfume. And the day of death is better than the day of one's birth.
2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. For death is the end of all people, and the living will take it to heart.
3Sorrow is better than laughter. For when the face is sad, the heart is made better.
4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of merrymaking.
5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.
6For the laughter of the fool is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. This also is meaningless.
7Surely oppression makes a wise man mad, and a bribe destroys the heart.
8The end of a thing is better than its beginning. And the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9Do not be quick in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the lap of fools.
10Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" You do not ask this wisely.
11Wisdom is good, along with an inheritance. It brings profit to those who see the sun.
12For wisdom is a shelter, and money is a shelter. But this is the advantage of knowledge: wisdom gives life to those who have it.
13Think about the work of God. Who can make straight what he has made crooked?
14In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of trouble consider this: God has set the one against the other, so that no one can find out anything about what comes after him.
15I have seen everything in my meaningless days. There is a just man who dies in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his wickedness.
16Do not be righteous too much, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
17Do not be too wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you die before your time?
18It is good that you should take hold of this, and also not let go of that. For the one who fears God will come out of them all.
19Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a city.
20For there is not a just man on earth who does good and never sins.
21Also, do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant curse you.
22For your own heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others in the same way.
23All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me.
24What is far off, and very deep, who can find it out?
25I turned 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.
26And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is traps and nets, and whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be caught by her.
27Look, this I have found, says the preacher, counting one by one to find out the sum:
28which my soul still seeks, but I do not find. One man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all those I have not found.
29See, this alone I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.