⁷ Oppression can turn a wise person into a fool, and a bribe can corrupt the mind.

⁸ The end of something is better than its beginning. It is better to be patient than arrogant.

⁹ Don’t be quick to get angry, because anger is typical of fools. ¹⁰ Don’t ask, “Why were things better in the old days than they are now?” It isn’t wisdom that leads you to ask this!

Wisdom Gives Life

¹¹ Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. It is an advantage to everyone who sees the sun. ¹² Wisdom protects us just as money protects us, but the advantage of wisdom is that it gives life to those who have it.

The Advantages of Wisdom

¹⁹ Wisdom will help a wise person more than ten rulers can help a city. ²⁰ Certainly, there is no one so righteous on earth that he always does what is good and never sins.

²¹ Don’t take everything that people say to heart, or you may hear your own servant cursing you. ²² Your conscience knows that you have cursed others many times.

²³ I used wisdom to test all of this. I said, “I want to be wise, but it is out of my reach.” ²⁴ Whatever wisdom may be, it is out of reach. It is deep, very deep. Who can find out what it is? ²⁵ I turned my attention to study, to explore, and to seek out wisdom and the reason for things. I learned that wickedness is stupid and foolishness is madness.

²⁶ I find that a woman whose thoughts are ⌞like⌟ traps and snares is more bitter than death itself. Even her hands are ⌞like⌟ chains. Whoever pleases God will escape her, but she will catch whoever continues to sin.

10 Dead flies will make a bottle of perfume stink, and then it is spoiled. A little foolishness outweighs wisdom ⌞and⌟ honor.

Proverbs about Life in General

² A wise person’s heart leads the right way. The heart of a fool leads the wrong way. ³ Even when a fool goes walking, he has no sense and shows everyone else that he’s a fool.

⁴ If a ruler becomes angry with you, don’t resign your position. If you remain calm, you can make up for serious offenses.

⁵ There is a tragedy that I’ve seen under the sun, an error often made by rulers. ⁶ Foolish people are often given high positions, and rich people are left to fill lower positions. ⁷ I have seen slaves sitting on horses and influential people going on foot like slaves.

⁸ Whoever digs a pit may fall into it. Whoever breaks through a stone wall may be bitten by a snake. ⁹ Whoever works in a stone quarry may get hurt. Whoever splits wood may be injured.

¹⁰ If an ax is blunt and the edge isn’t sharpened, then one has to use more strength. But wisdom prepares the way for success. ¹¹ If a snake bites before it has been charmed, then there is no advantage in being a snake charmer.

¹² A wise person’s words win favors, but a fool’s lips are self-destructive. ¹³ A fool starts out by talking foolishness and ends up saying crazy things that are dangerous. ¹⁴ He never stops talking. No one knows what the future will bring, or what will happen after ⌞death⌟. Who can say! ¹⁵ Fools wear themselves out with hard work, because they don’t even know the way to town.

¹⁶ How horrible it will be for any country where the king used to be a servant and where the high officials throw parties in the morning. ¹⁷ A country is blessed when the king is from a noble family and when the high officials eat at the right time in order to get strength and not to get drunk.

¹⁸ A roof sags because of laziness. A house leaks because of idle hands.

¹⁹ A meal is made for laughter, and wine makes life pleasant, but money is the answer for everything.

²⁰ Don’t curse the king even in your thoughts, and don’t curse rich people even in your bedroom. A bird may carry your words, or some winged creature may repeat what you say.

Live Boldly

11 Throw your bread on the surface of the water, because you will find it again after many days.

² Divide what you have into seven parts, or even into eight, because you don’t know what disaster may happen on earth.

³ If the clouds are full of rain, they will let it pour down on the earth. If a tree falls north or south, the tree will remain where it fell.

⁴ Whoever watches the wind will never plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will never harvest.

⁵ Just as you don’t know how the breath of life enters the limbs of a child within its mother’s womb, you also don’t understand how God, who made everything, works.

⁶ Plant your seed in the morning, and don’t let your hands rest until evening. You don’t know whether this field or that field will be profitable or whether both of them will ⌞turn out⌟ equally well.