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7:1  A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.
7:2  It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting. For that is the end of every man; let the living take it to heart.
7:3  Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad countenance may conceal a joyful heart.
7:4  The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of gaiety.
7:5  It is better to pay heed to the rebuke of the wise than to listen to the songs of fools.
7:6  For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of fools. This also is vanity.
7:7  Oppression can make a wise man foolish and a bribe corrupts the heart.
7:8  Better is the end of anything than its beginning; better are the patient in spirit than the proud in spirit.
7:9  Do not become easily angered, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
7:10  Do not assert that the past was better than the present, for such a statement is not a sign of wisdom.
7:11  Wisdom is as good as an inheritance and an advantage to those who see the sun.
7:12  Safeguard wisdom as you would a legacy, and the advantage of knowledge is this: it bestows life on the one who possesses it.
7:13  Consider the work of God. Who can make straight what God has made crooked?
7:14  When things are going well, be grateful for your blessings, and in times of adversity consider this: God has made both of them, so that we cannot predict with confidence what the future holds.
7:15  During my span of life I have seen everything: Righteous people who perish in their uprightness, and wicked people who grow old in their wickedness.
7:16  Do not be excessively righteous or show yourself to be unduly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?
7:17  Do not be excessively wicked or act like a fool. Why should you die before your time?
7:18  It would be best for you to hold on to one and not let go of the other. For the one who fears God will eventually succeed.
7:19  Wisdom gives greater strength to the wise man than ten rulers in a city.
7:20  There is no one on earth who is so righteous that he does nothing but good and never sins.
7:21  If you do not pay attention to all that people say, you will never hear your servant speaking ill of you.
7:22  For you know in your heart that you have often spoken ill of others.
7:23  All this I have put to the test of wisdom: I said, “I am determined to be wise,” but such wisdom was beyond my reach.
7:24  This state of wisdom is far off and buried very deep. Who can discover it?
7:25  I then turned my thoughts in the direction of knowledge. My mind sought to search out and seek wisdom and the reason why things are as they are, only to realize that it is foolish to be wicked and madness to act like a fool.
7:26  I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare: her heart is a net and her arms are chains. One who pleases God escapes her clutches, but the sinner is captured by her.
7:27  Behold, this is what I have discovered, says Qoheleth: As I have added one thing to another in order to draw some conclusion,
7:28  which my mind has sought repeatedly but has not yet discovered, I have found one man out of a thousand, but a woman among them all I have not found.
7:29  This alone have I found out: God made human beings straightforward, but they often follow devious paths.