Open English Translation ECC Chapter 7

7 A good reputation is better than expensive perfume,[ref]

and the day you die is more important than the day of your birth.

2 It’s better to go to a house where there’s mourning than to a house where there’s a party,

because death is the end of each person,

and those still alive should consider this in their hearts.

3 Laughter is better than grief

because a serious face means that the mind is working.

4 Wise people do their thinking at a funeral,

whereas foolish people prefer to spend time at a party.

5 It’s better to accept a rebuke from a wise person

than to listen to the songs from foolish people,

6 because the laughter of a fool

is like the crackling of burning thorn twigs under a cooking pot—

that’s also pointless.

7 Oppression drives a wise person insane,

and a bribe destroys a person’s morals.

8 Finishing something is better than starting it,

and being patient is better than being proud.

9 Don’t be quick to get angry,[ref]

because anger belongs in a fool’s toolbox.

10 Don’t ask, “What was it about the old days that were better than these?”

because that question doesn’t display wisdom.

11 Wisdom is good when you get an inheritance,

and it’s an advantage to those doing well.

12 Wisdom can protect us just like money can,

but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

13 Look at God’s work:

who can straighten what he’s made crooked?

14 Be happy on a good day,

but on a day of problems, consider this:

God caused one, as well as the other—

humanity can’t discover what’s going to come next.

15 I’ve seen everything in my days of pointlessness:

There’s godly people dying despite doing everything right,

and there are wicked people living long lives doing evil.

16 Don’t be highly righteous or overly wise—

Why go to the trouble of destroying yourself?

17 Don’t be very wicked and don’t be a fool—

why should you die when it’s not your time?

18 It’s good to take hold of wisdom and don’t rest from doing what is right,

because the godly person should continue with both of them.

19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise—

more than the ten most powerful men in the city.

20 But yes, there’s no person on the earth who’s truly good,

only doing what is right and never disobeying.

21 Don’t give your attention to everything that people say,

otherwise you might hear your servant speaking against you,

22 because you know how often you’ve belittled others yourself.

23 I tested all of that with wisdom.

I said, “Let me be wise,” but it eluded me.

24 It seemed far away

and deeper down than anyone can find.

25 I changed my mind’s direction to try to learn and explore—

to search for wisdom and to understand how things work,

and to understand the foolishness of wickedness and how that leads to madness.

26 I learnt that a woman who takes advantage of you leads to more bitterness than death would be—

her heart is like a net and her hands become chains.

Any person that’s good in God’s eyes would escape from her,

but an ungodly person would end up captured by her.

27 The leader has discovered that—

adding one thing to another to try to find an explanation for everything.

28 I continually tried to learn more, but I didn’t find it.

I found one special man out of a thousand

but I couldn’t find one such woman out of all of them.

29 This is the only conclusion I came to:

God made humankind to do good, but instead they’ve come up with many other kinds of schemes.