| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, since that is the end of all mankind, and the living should take it to heart. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Grief is better than laughter, for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person than to listen to the song of fools, |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the mind. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8The end of a matter is better than its beginning; a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Don't let your spirit rush to be angry, for anger abides in the heart of fools. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Don't say, "Why were the former days better than these?" since it is not wise of you to ask this. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Wisdom is as good as an inheritance and an advantage to those who see the sun, |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12because wisdom is protection as silver is protection; but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Consider the work of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked? |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that no one can discover anything that will come after him. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15In my futile life I have seen everything: someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone wicked lives long in spite of his evil. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Don't be excessively righteous, and don't be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Don't be excessively wicked, and don't be foolish. Why should you die before your time? |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Wisdom makes the wise person stronger than ten rulers of a city. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20There is certainly no one righteous on the earth who does good and never sins. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Don't pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, "I will be wise," but it was beyond me. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it? |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap:her heart a net and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27"Look," says the Teacher, "I have discovered this by adding one thing to another to find out the explanation, |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28which my soul continually searches for but does not find: I found one person in a thousand, but none of those was a woman. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes." |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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