Ecclesiastes 7:7-23

⁷The wise are troubled by the ways of the cruel, and the giving of money is the destruction of the heart.

⁸The end of a thing is better than its start, and a gentle spirit is better than pride.

⁹Be not quick to let your spirit be angry; because wrath is in the heart of the foolish.

¹⁰Say not, Why were the days which have gone by better than these? Such a question comes not from wisdom.

¹¹Wisdom together with a heritage is good, and a profit to those who see the sun.

¹²Wisdom keeps a man from danger even as money does; but the value of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owner.

¹³Give thought to the work of God. Who will make straight what he has made bent?

¹⁴In the day of wealth have joy, but in the day of evil take thought: God has put the one against the other, so that man may not be certain what will be after him.

¹⁵These two have I seen in my life which is to no purpose: a good man coming to his end in his righteousness, and an evil man whose days are long in his evil-doing.

¹⁶Be not given overmuch to righteousness and be not over-wise. Why let destruction come on you?

¹⁷Be not evil overmuch, and be not foolish. Why come to your end before your time?

¹⁸It is good to take this in your hand and not to keep your hand from that; he who has the fear of God will be free of the two.

¹⁹Wisdom makes a wise man stronger than ten rulers in a town.

²⁰There is no man on earth of such righteousness that he does good and is free from sin all his days.

²¹Do not give ear to all the words which men say, for fear of hearing the curses of your servant.

²²Your heart has knowledge how frequently others have been cursed by you.

²³All this I have put to the test by wisdom; I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.