Ecclesiastes 7:6-17

⁶For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.

⁷Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

⁸Better is the end of a thing than its beginning: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

⁹Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

¹⁰Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.

¹²For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellence of knowledge is , that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.

¹³Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

¹⁵All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

¹⁶Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldst thou destroy thyself?

¹⁷Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldst thou die before thy time?