Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
The Value of Wisdom

1 A good name [is] better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

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2 [It 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; and the living will lay [it] to his heart.

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3 Sorrow [is] better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

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4 The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools [is] in the house of mirth.

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5 [It is] better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.

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6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so [is] the laughter of the fool: this also [is] vanity.

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7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

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8 Better [is] the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: [and] the patient in spirit [is] better than the proud in spirit.

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9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

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10 Say not thou, What is [the cause] that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

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11 Wisdom [is] good with an inheritance: and [by it there is] profit to them that see the sun.

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12 For wisdom [is] a defence, [and] money [is] a defence: but the excellency of knowledge [is, that] wisdom giveth life to them that have it.

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13 Consider the work of God: for who can make [that] straight, which he hath made crooked?

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14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

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