1A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one's being born.
2It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men (adam); and the living (chai) will lay it to his heart.
3Vexation is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made better.
4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of joy.
5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man (ish) to hear the song of fools.
6For like the sound of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool; this also is vanity.
7For oppression makes the wise mad, and a gift destroys the heart.
8Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; better is the long of spirit (ruach) than the proud of spirit (ruach).
9Do not be hasty in your spirit (ruach) to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
10Do not say, "How is it that the former days were better than these?" for not out of wisdom do you ask about this.
11Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and an advantage to those who see the sun.
12For to be in the shadow of wisdom is to be in the shadow of money; and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owner.
13See the work of God; for who can straighten what He has made crooked?
14In the day of good be in good, and in the day of evil consider; God has made this also corresponding to that, so that man (adam) should find nothing after him.
15I have seen everything in the days of my vanity: there is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wicked one prolonging his days in his evil.
16Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself overly wise; why should you destroy yourself?
17Do not be overly wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time?
18It is good that you take hold of this, and also from that do not withdraw your hand; for he who fears God comes out with all of them.
19Wisdom is strength to the wise more than ten rulers who are in the city.
20For there is not a righteous man (adam) on the earth who does good and does not sin.
21Also do not give your heart to all the words that they speak, lest you hear your servant cursing you;
22For also many times your heart knows that you too have cursed others.
23All this I have tested with wisdom; I said, "I will be wise," but it was far from me.
24Far off is that which has been, and deep, deep—who can find it?
25I turned, I and my heart, to know and to search and to seek wisdom and reckoning, and to know wickedness as folly, and foolishness as madness;
26And I find more bitter than death the woman (ishah), whose heart is snares and nets, her hands bonds; the one good before God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.
27See, this I have found, says Qoheleth, one to one to find the reckoning—
28which my soul (nephesh) still sought but I have not found: one man (adam) among a thousand I have found, but a woman (ishah) among all these I have not found.
29Only, see, this I have found: that God made man (adam) upright, but they have sought out many devices.