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7:1  A good name is better than fine oil, and the day of death better than the birthday.
7:2  It is better to go to a house in mourning than to a house party, because that is everyone’s destiny; and the living should take it to heart.
7:3  Aggravation is better than merriment because a sad face may lead to a glad heart.
7:4  The wise heart is in the house that mourns, but the foolish heart is in the house that rejoices.
7:5  It is better to obey the reprimand of the wise than to listen to the song of fools,
7:6  because the fool’s merriment is like nettles crackling under a kettle. That too is pointless.
7:7  Oppression turns the wise into fools; a bribe corrupts the heart.
7:8  The end of something is better than its beginning. Patience is better than arrogance.
7:9  Don’t be too quick to get angry because anger lives in the fool’s heart.
7:10  Don’t ask, “How is it that the former days were better than these?” because it isn’t wise to ask this.
7:11  Wisdom is as good as an inheritance— an advantage for those who see the sun.
7:12  Wisdom’s protection is like the protection of money; the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the lives of its possessors.
7:13  Consider God’s work! Who can straighten what God has made crooked?
7:14  When times are good, enjoy the good; when times are bad, consider: God has made the former as well as the latter so that people can’t discover anything that will come to be after them.
7:15  I have seen everything in my pointless lifetime: the righteous person may die in spite of their righteousness; then again, the wicked may live long in spite of their wickedness.
7:16  Don’t be too righteous or too wise, or you may be dumbfounded.
7:17  Don’t be too wicked and don’t be a fool, or you may die before your time.
7:18  It’s good that you take hold of one of these without letting go of the other because the one who fears God will go forth with both.
7:19  Wisdom makes a wise person stronger than ten rulers who are in a city.
7:20  Remember: there’s no one on earth so righteous as to do good only and never make a mistake.
7:21  Don’t worry about all the things people say, so you don’t hear your servant cursing you.
7:22  After all, you know that you’ve often cursed others yourself!
7:23  I tested all of this by wisdom. I thought, I will be wise, but it eluded me.
7:24  All that happens is elusive and utterly unfathomable. Who can grasp it?
7:25  I turned my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, along with an account of things, to know that wickedness is foolishness and folly is madness.
7:26  I found one woman more bitter than death: she who is a trap, her heart a snare, her hands shackles. Anyone who pleases God escapes her, but a sinner is trapped by her.
7:27  See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, examining one matter after another to account for things.
7:28  But there’s something that I constantly searched for but couldn’t find: I found one man among a thousand, but I couldn’t find a woman among any of these.
7:29  See, this alone I found: God made human beings straightforward, but they search for many complications.