7 A agood bname is better than precious bointment; and cthe day of death than the day of one’s birth. 2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will dlay it to his heart. 3 ||eSorrow is better than laughter: ffor by the sadness of the countenance gthe heart is made better. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. 5 hIt is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. 6 For ias the †crackling of thorns under a pot, kso is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.

7 Surely loppression mmaketh a wise man mad; and na gift destroyeth the heart. 8 Better is othe end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and pthe patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. 9 qBe not hasty in thy spirit pto be angry: for anger rresteth in the bosom of fools. 10 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire †wisely concerning this. 11 Wisdom is ||good with an inheritance: and by it there is sprofit tto them that see the sun. 12 For wisdom is a †defence, and money is a †defence: but the uexcellency of knowledge is, that wisdom wgiveth life to xthem that have it. 13 Consider the work of God: for who can ymake that straight, which he hath yzmade crooked? 14 aIn the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath †set the one over against the other, bto the end that man should find nothing after him.

15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: cthere is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth dhis life in his wickedness. 16 Be not righteous over much; eneither make thyself fover wise: why shouldest thou †destroy thyself? 17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: gwhy shouldest thou die †before thy time? 18 It is good that thou shouldest take hold of hthis; yea, also from ithis kwithdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all. 19 lWisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mmighty men which are in the city. 20 nFor there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and nsinneth not. 21 Also †otake no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear pthy servant curse thee: 22 oFor oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.

23 All this have I proved by wisdom: qI said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. 24 That which is far off, and rexceeding deep, swho can find it out? 25 †tI applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the ureason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness: 26 And I find more wbitter than death the woman, whose heart is xsnares and nets, and her hands as bands: †whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but ythe sinner shall be taken by her. 27 Behold, this have I found, zsaith the preacher, ||counting one by one, to find out the account: 28 Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: abone man among a thousand have I found; but a woman camong all those have I not found. 29 Lo, this only have I found, dthat God hath made man upright; but ethey have sought out many finventions.

8 Who is as the wise man? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? aa man’s wisdom bmaketh his face to shine, and †the boldness of his face shall be changed. 2 I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that cin regard of dthe oath of God. 3 eBe not hasty fto go out of his sight: gstand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. 4 Where the word of a king is, there is hpower: and iwho may say unto him, What doest thou? 5 Whoso keepeth the commandment †shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and jjudgment.

6 Because kto every purpose there is time and jjudgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. 7 For lhe knoweth not that which shall be: for mwho can tell him ||when it shall be? 8 There is no man that hath npower over the spirit oto retain the spirit; neither hath he hpower in the day of death: and there is no ||pdischarge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver qthose that are given to it. 9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt. 10 And rso I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from sthe place of the holy, and tthey were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

11 uBecause sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men xis fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and yhis zadays be prolonged, yet surely I know that ait shall be well bwith them that fear God, which fear before him: 13 But it bcshall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are das a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, eunto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, fto whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity. 15 Then I commended mirth, because ga man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall habide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

16 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the ibusiness that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) 17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that ka man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, lyet shall he not be able to find it.

9 For all this †I considered in my heart even to adeclare all this, bthat the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: cno man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. 2 dAll things come alike to all: there is eone event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and fhe that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. 3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is eone event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and gmadness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they shall die: but hthe dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for ithe memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is know perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

7 Go thy way, leat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; mfor God know accepteth thy works. 8 Let nthy garments be always white; and olet thy head lack no ointment. 9 †Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, pwhich he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: qfor that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. 10 Whatsoever rthy hand findeth to do, sdo it with thy might; for there is no work, nor tdevice, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

11 I ureturned, and saw under the sun, that xthe race is not to the swift, nor ythe battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet zfavour to men of skill; but time and achance bhappeneth to them all. 12 For cman also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil dnet, and as ethe birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men fsnared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

13 This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me: 14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and gbesieged it, and built great hbulwarks against it: 15 Now there was found in it a ipoor wise man, and he kby his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same ipoor man. 16 Then said I, lWisdom is better than strength: nevertheless mthe ipoor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 17 The words of wise men are heard in nquiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. 18 lWisdom is better than weapons of war: but oone sinner destroyeth much good.