For wisdom is better than jewels,
and nothing desirable can compare with it.

It is by me that kings reign
and rulers enact just law;

My fruit is better than solid gold,
and my harvest than pure silver.

when He set a limit for the sea
so that the waters would not violate His command,
when He laid out the foundations of the earth.

But he doesn’t know that the departed spirits are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Be assured that the wicked
will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will escape.

Better to be dishonored, yet have a servant,
than to act important but have no food.

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.

The tongue that heals is a tree of life,
but a devious tongue breaks the spirit.

Better a little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure with turmoil.

Better a meal of vegetables where there is love
than a fattened ox with hatred.

A man takes joy in giving an answer;
and a timely word—how good that is!

For the discerning the path of life leads upward,
so that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

One who listens to life-giving rebukes
will be at home among the wise.

Better a little with righteousness
than great income with injustice.

Get wisdom—
how much better it is than gold!
And get understanding—
it is preferable to silver.

Better to be lowly of spirit with the humble
than to divide plunder with the proud.

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.

A violent man lures his neighbor,
leading him in a way that is not good.

Patience is better than power,
and controlling one’s temper, than capturing a city.

Better a dry crust with peace
than a house full of feasting with strife.

A rebuke cuts into a perceptive person
more than a hundred lashes into a fool.

Better for a man to meet a bear robbed of her cubs
than a fool in his foolishness.

A gossip’s words are like choice food
that goes down to one’s innermost being.

An offended brother is harder to reach
than a fortified city,
and quarrels are like the bars of a fortress.

A man with many friends may be harmed,
but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.

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Better a poor man who lives with integrity
than someone who has deceitful lips and is a fool.

Listen to counsel and receive instruction
so that you may be wise later in life.

What is desirable in a man is his fidelity;
better to be a poor man than a liar.

Doing what is righteous and just
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

The lamp that guides the wicked—
haughty eyes and an arrogant heart—is sin.

Better to live on the corner of a roof
than to share a house with a nagging wife.

Better to live in a wilderness
than with a nagging and hot-tempered wife.

A good name is to be chosen over great wealth;
favor is better than silver and gold.

I have instructed you today—even you—
so that your confidence may be in the Lord.

in order to teach you true and reliable words,
so that you may give a dependable report
to those who sent you?

Don’t move an ancient boundary marker
that your fathers set up.

don’t desire his choice food,
for that food is deceptive.

A wise warrior is better than a strong one,
and a man of knowledge than one of strength;

realize that wisdom is the same for you.
If you find it, you will have a future,
and your hope will never fade.

for it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here!”
than to demote you in plain view of a noble.

The man who boasts about a gift that does not exist
is like clouds and wind without rain.

Better to live on the corner of a roof
than to share a house with a nagging wife.

A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like lame legs that hang limp.

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser
than seven men who can answer sensibly.

A person who is passing by and meddles in a quarrel that’s not his
is like one who grabs a dog by the ears.

A gossip’s words are like choice food
that goes down to one’s innermost being.

Better an open reprimand
than concealed love.

Oil and incense bring joy to the heart,
and the sweetness of a friend is better than self-counsel.

Don’t abandon your friend or your father’s friend,
and don’t go to your brother’s house
in your time of calamity;
better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

Be wise, my son, and bring my heart joy,
so that I can answer anyone who taunts me.

A destitute leader who oppresses the poor
is like a driving rain that leaves no food.

Better a poor man who lives with integrity
than a rich man who distorts right and wrong.

A greedy man is in a hurry for wealth;
he doesn’t know that poverty will come to him.

One who rebukes a person will later find more favor
than one who flatters with his tongue.

The one who robs his father or mother
and says, “That’s no sin,”
is a companion to a man who destroys.

Do you see a man who speaks too soon?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

There is a generation that curses its father
and does not bless its mother.

There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes,
yet is not washed from its filth.

As for the eye that ridicules a father
and despises obedience to a mother,
may ravens of the valley pluck it out
and young vultures eat it.

The words of King Lemuel,
an oracle that his mother taught him:

Let him drink so that he can forget his poverty
and remember his trouble no more.

Who can find a capable wife?
She is far more precious than jewels.

She draws on her strength
and reveals that her arms are strong.

She sees that her profits are good,
and her lamp never goes out at night.

I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.

When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.

The wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand,

I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied.

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.

I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.

I said to myself, “This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.”

I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?

So I admired the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive.

But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Better one handful with rest
than two handfuls with effort and a pursuit of the wind.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts.

Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to draw near in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong.

Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?

That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed.

As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he.