The Value of Wisdom

7 A good name is better than fine perfume,

and one’s day of death [is better] than his day of birth.

2 It is better to enter a house of mourning

than a house of feasting,

since [death] [is] the end of every man,

and the living should take [this] to heart.

3 Sorrow is better than laughter,

for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

4 The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

5 It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke

than to listen to the song of fools.

6 For like the crackling of thorns under the pot,

so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.

7 Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool,

and a bribe corrupts the heart.

8 The end of a matter is better than the beginning,

[and] a patient spirit is better than a proud [one].

9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,

for anger settles in the lap of a fool.[fn]

10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”

For it is unwise of you to ask about this.

11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, [is] good,

and it benefits those who see the sun.

12 For wisdom, like money, [is] a shelter,

and the advantage of knowledge

is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

13 Consider the work of God:

Who can straighten what He has bent?

14 In the day of prosperity, be joyful,

but in the day of adversity, consider this:

God has made one [of these] along with the other,

so that a man cannot discover

anything that will come after him.