The Value of Wisdom

1A good name is more worth then precious oyntment: & the day of death, is better the the day of byrth.

2It is better to go into an house of mourning, then into a banketting house: For there is the ende of all men, and he that is liuing taketh it to heart.

3Grauitie is better then to laugh: for when the countenaunce is heauie, the heart is refourmed.

4The heart of the wise is in the mourning house: but the heart of the foolishe is in the house of myrth.

5It is better to geue eare to the chastening of a wyse man, then to heare the songue of fooles:

6For the laughyng of fooles is like the cracking of thornes vnder a pot: and that is but a vayne thing.

7The wyse man hateth wrong dealing, and abhorreth the heart that coueteth rewardes.

8Better is it to consider the ende of a thing then the beginning: The pacient of spirite, is better then the hye minded.

9Be not hastyly angrie in thy minde: for wrath resteth in the bosome of fooles.

10Say not thou, What is the cause that the dayes of the old time were better then they that be nowe? for that were no wyse question.

11Wysdome with inheritaunce is good, yet better is it with them that without care may beholde the sunne:

12For wysdome defendeth aswell as money, and the excellent knowledge & wysdome geueth lyfe vnto hym that hath it in possession.

13Consider the worke of God, how that no man can make the thing straight, whiche he maketh crooked.

14Use well the tyme of prosperitie, and remember the tyme of misfortune: for God doth so temper the one and the other, that a man can finde nothing els.

The Limits of Human Wisdom

15All thinges haue I considered in the time of my vanitie: that the iust man perisheth for his righteousnesse sake, & the vngodly liueth in his wickednesse. 16Therfore be thou neither to righteous nor ouer wyse, that thou perishe not. 17Be neither to vnrighteous also nor to foolishe, lest thou die before thy time. 18It is good for thee to take holde of this, and not to let that go out of thy hande: For he that feareth God, commeth foorth with them all.

19Wysdome geueth more courage vnto the wyse, then ten mightie men of the citie. 20For there is not one iust vpon earth that doth good, and sinneth not. 21Take no heede vnto euery word that is spoken, lest thou heare thy seruaunt curse thee: 22(7:21) for thyne owne heart knoweth that thou thy self also hast ofttimes spoken euyll by other men.

23(7:22) All these thinges haue I proued in wysdome, for I thought to be wyse, but she went farther from me then she was before: 24(7:22) yea and so deepe, that I might not reache vnto her. 25(7:23) I applied my minde also vnto knowledge, and to seeke and searche out science, wysdome, and vnderstanding, to knowe the foolishnesse of the vngodly, and the errour of doting fooles. 26(7:24) And I founde that a woman is bitterer then death, the whiche hath cast abrode her heart as a net that men fishe with, and her handes are chaynes: Who so pleaseth God shall escape from her, but the sinner wyll be taken with her.

27(7:25) Beholde (saith the preacher) this haue I diligently searched out and proued: One thing must be considered with another, that a man may come by knowledge, 28(7:25) which as yet I seeke, and finde it not. (7:26) Among a thousande men I haue founde one: but not one woman among all. 29(7:27) Lo this onlye haue I founde, that God made man iust and right: but they sought many inuentions.