Ecclesiastes 7:15-27 (New International Version)

 ¹⁵ In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:
       a righteous man perishing in his righteousness,
       and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.

 ¹⁶ Do not be overrighteous,
       neither be overwise—
       why destroy yourself?

 ¹⁷ Do not be overwicked,
       and do not be a fool—
       why die before your time?

 ¹⁸ It is good to grasp the one
       and not let go of the other.
       The man who fears God will avoid all extremes . ^[a]

 ¹⁹ Wisdom makes one wise man more powerful
       than ten rulers in a city.

 ²⁰ There is not a righteous man on earth
       who does what is right and never sins.

 ²¹ Do not pay attention to every word people say,
       or you may hear your servant cursing you-

 ²² for you know in your heart
       that many times you yourself have cursed others.

 ²³ All this I tested by wisdom and I said,
       "I am determined to be wise"—
       but this was beyond me.

 ²⁴ Whatever wisdom may be,
       it is far off and most profound—
       who can discover it?

 ²⁵ So I turned my mind to understand,
       to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
       and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
       and the madness of folly.

 ²⁶ I find more bitter than death
       the woman who is a snare,
       whose heart is a trap
       and whose hands are chains.
       The man who pleases God will escape her,
       but the sinner she will ensnare.

 ²⁷ "Look," says the Teacher, ^[b] "this is what I have discovered:
       "Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things-