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.

8 Who’s like the wise person and understands what’s going on?

A person’s wisdom makes their face lighten up

and gives their face a certain firmness.

2 Follow the king’s orders

because of your promise to God.

3 Don’t rush away from the king’s presence

or take a stand on an evil matter

because whatever he wants to do, he’ll do.

4 A king’s word is authoritative—

who’ll ask him what he thinks he’s doing?

5 Those who follow commands will stay out of trouble,

and a wise person will know the right time and place for something

6 because there’s a time and a right way to do everything,

otherwise humanity’s misery will be severe.

7 No one knows what the future will bring

so no one can tell you what will happen next.

8 Just as no person has control over the wind to be able to restrain it,

nor does anyone have authority over the day of their death.

Just as no one can be discharged in the middle of a war,

nor can being wicked rescue you from your situation.

9 I saw all that and applied my mind to everything that happens in this world.

I saw that sometimes a person can dominate someone else to that person’s detriment.

10 I’ve seen wicked people being buried—

being carried out from a sacred place,

and what they’d done there in the city was just forgotten.

That’s also pointless.

11 When an evil activity isn’t quickly condemned,

then humanity will become totally determined to do evil.

12 Even if an ungodly person does some evil thing a hundred times over and goes on to live a long time,

I know that things will go better for those who respect and obey God.

13 It won’t go well for the wicked and what they do won’t help them live longer

because they’ve shown no respect for God’s presence.

14 There’s something else strange that happens in this world:

when bad things happen to godly people

and when good things happen to evil people.

That’s also hard to understand.

15 Then I recommended enjoyment

because there’s nothing better for a person in this world than to eat and drink and be cheery,

then that attitude will be with them as they work

during the days of their life that God gives them in this world.

16 So when I set my mind on gaining wisdom

and observing all the business done on this earth,

because day and night there’s someone not sleeping,

17 and I saw everything that God does—

realising that humanity can’t discover everything that’s done in this world—

they’ll try to discover it but fail.

Even if a wise person claimed to know,

they wouldn’t be able to discover it.

9 Indeed I set my mind to examine all this

and concluded that godly and wise people and their work is in God’s hands.

Being loved or being hated, humankind doesn’t know what’s ahead of them.

2 We all have the same fate whether godly or wicked,

or good or pure or impure,

whether you sacrifice or not,

or you’re good or disobedient,

or you make a promise or you’re the subject of a promise.

3 There’s evil in everything that’s done in this world:

that same final event for everyone.

Yes, humankind’s minds are full of evil and madness during their lifetimes,

and after that they join the dead.

4 Anyone who’s joined to the living has hope,

because a dog that’s alive is better than a lion that’s dead,

5 because the living know that we’ll die

but the dead don’t know anything

and have no further reward because their memory is forgotten.

6 Their love and hatred and their envy will have already perished,

and they no longer have a part in everything that’s done in this world.

7 So go and enjoy eating your food and drinking your wine

because God has already approved what you’ve been doing.

8 Always let your clothes be clean and white,

and don’t spare the use of lotion on your head.

9 Live together with the wife that you love

for all the length of your pointless life that you’re given in this world,

because that’s your allocation in your life

and in the work that you’re doing in this world.

10 Everything that you find to do, do it well,

because in the grave where you’ll be going,

there’s no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

11 I again saw in this world

that the fastest ones don’t always win the race,

the most powerful side doesn’t always win the war,

wise people don’t always have enough to eat,

intelligent people don’t always get wealthy,

and people with understanding don’t always win favour,

because chance and timing affects them all.

12 You see, humanity doesn’t know when their time is about to be up:

just like a fish getting caught in a deadly net,

or birds that get caught in a trap,

so too people can get caught out when trouble suddenly hits them.