Ecclesiastes 7:9-22

English Standard Version

⁹^(A)Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
    ^(B)for anger lodges in the heart^[a] of fools.
¹⁰Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”
    For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
    an advantage to those who ^(C)see the sun.
¹²For the protection of wisdom is like ^(D)the protection of money,
    and the advantage of knowledge is that ^(E)wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
¹³Consider ^(F)the work of God:
    ^(G)who can make straight what he has made crooked?

¹⁴^(H)In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, ^(I)so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵In my ^(J)vain^[b] life I have seen everything. There is ^(K)a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who ^(L)prolongs his life in his evildoing. ¹⁶Be not overly righteous, and do not ^(M)make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. ^(N)Why should you die before your time? ¹⁸It is good that you should take hold of ^(O)this, and from ^(P)that ^(Q)withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

¹⁹^(R)Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

²⁰Surely ^(S)there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

²¹Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear ^(T)your servant cursing you. ²²Your heart knows that ^(U)many times you yourself have cursed others.

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