Ecclesiastes 7
A good reputation is more valuable than wealth, and a somber occasion can be more beneficial than a joyful one as it prompts reflection on mortality. Wisdom is better than foolishness, and correction from a wise person is more valuable than flattery from a fool. Patience and self-control are essential, as anger and arrogance can lead to trouble. Wisdom and wealth can both provide protection, but wisdom also grants life. One should not overindulge in self-righteousness or foolishness, and should instead strive for a balance of justice and wisdom.
A good name is better than precious ointments, and a day of death is better than a day of birthIt is better to go to a house of mourning, than to a house of feasting. For in the former, we are admonished about the end of all things, so that the living consider what may be in the futureAnger is better than laughter. For through the sadness of the countenance, the soul of one who offends may be correctedThe heart of the wise is a place of mourning, and the heart of the foolish is a place of rejoicingIt is better to be corrected by a wise man, than to be deceived by the false praise of the foolishFor, like the crackling of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughter of the foolish. But this, too, is emptinessA false accusation troubles the wise man and saps the strength of his heartThe end of a speech is better than the beginning. Patience is better than arroganceDo not be quickly moved to anger. For anger resides in the sinews of the foolishYou should not say: "What do you think is the reason that the former times were better than they are now?" For this type of question is foolishWisdom with riches is more useful and more advantageous, for those who see the sunFor as wisdom protects, so also does money protect. But learning and wisdom have this much more: that they grant life to one who possesses themConsider the works of God, that no one is able to correct whomever he has despisedIn good times, enjoy good things, but beware of an evil time. For just as God has established the one, so also the other, in order that man may not find any just complaint against himI also saw this, in the days of my vanity: a just man perishing in his justice, and an impious man living a long time in his maliceDo not try to be overly just, and do not try to be more wise than is necessary, lest you become stupidDo not act with great impiety, and do not choose to be foolish, lest you die before your timeIt is good for you to support a just man. Furthermore, you should not withdraw your hand from him, for whoever fears God, neglects nothingWisdom has strengthened the wise more than ten princes of a cityBut there is no just man on earth, who does good and does not sinSo then, do not attach your heart to every word that is spoken, lest perhaps you may hear your servant speaking ill of youFor your conscience knows that you, too, have repeatedly spoken evil of othersI have tested everything in wisdom. I have said: "I will be wise." And wisdom withdrew farther from meso much more than it was before. Wisdom is very profound, so who shall reveal herI have examined all things in my soul, so that I may know, and consider, and seek out wisdom and reason, and so that I may recognize the impiety of the foolish, and the error of the imprudentAnd I have discovered a woman more bitter than death: she who is like the snare of a hunter, and whose heart is like a net, and whose hands are like chains. Whoever pleases God shall flee from her. But whoever is a sinner shall be seized by herBehold, Ecclesiastes said, I have discovered these things, one after another, in order that I might discover the explanatiowhich my soul still seeks and has not found. One man among a thousand, I have found; a woman among them all, I have not foundThis alone have I discovered: that God made man righteous, and yet he has adulterated himself with innumerable questions. Who is so great as the wise? And who has understood the meaning of the word
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