⁷ False challenge troubleth a wise man, and it shall lose the strength of his heart. (Untrue words, that is, lies and slander, trouble a wise person, and they shall destroy the strength of his heart, that is, his resolve, or his determination.)

⁸ Forsooth the end of prayer is better than the beginning. A patient man is better than a proud man.

⁹ Be thou not swift to be wroth; for ire resteth in the bosom of a fool. (Do not thou be quick to get angry; for anger lieth in the heart of a fool.)

¹⁰ Say thou not, What guessest thou is the cause, that the former times were better than be now? for why such asking is fond (for such questioning is foolish).

¹¹ Forsooth wisdom with riches is more profitable, and profiteth more to men seeing the sun. (For wisdom is more profitable than riches, and profiteth all who see the sun.)

¹² For as wisdom defendeth, so money defendeth; but learning and wisdom have this moreover, that those give life to them that have them. (For like wisdom defendeth, so money defendeth; but learning and wisdom have this as well, that they give life to those who have them.)

¹⁹ Wisdom hath strengthened a wise man, over ten princes of a city. (Wisdom can strengthen the wise, more than ten leaders of a city.)

²⁰ Forsooth no just man there is in [the] earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. (But there is no righteous person in the earth who only, or who always, doeth good, and never sinneth.)

²¹ But also give thou not thine heart to all (the) words, that be said; lest peradventure thou hear thy servant cursing thee;

²² for thy conscience knoweth, that also thou hast cursed oft other men. (for thy conscience knoweth that thou also hast often cursed other people.)

²³ I assayed all things in wisdom; I said, I shall be made wise, and it went away further from me (I said, I shall be made wise, but it went farther away from me),

²⁴ much more than it was; and the depth is low, who shall find it? (much more than it was before; and to such a depth, yea, so low down, that who shall ever be able to find it?)

²⁵ I compassed all things with my soul (I put my mind upon everything, yea), to know, and to behold, and (to) seek (out) wisdom, and reason, and to know the wickedness of a fool, and the error of unprudent men.

²⁶ And I found a woman bitterer than death, the which is (like) the snare of hunters, and her heart is (like) a net, and her hands be (like) bonds; he that pleaseth God shall escape her, but he that is a sinner, shall be taken of her. (And I found a woman more bitter than death, who is like a hunter’s snare, and her heart is like a net, and her hands be like bonds; he who pleaseth God shall escape her, but he who is a sinner shall be caught by her.)

10 Flies that die (in it), lose the sweetness of [the] ointment. A little folly at some time is more precious than wisdom and glory. (Flies that die in an ointment can destroy its sweetness. And so a little foolishness can sometimes destroy wisdom and glory.)

² The heart of a wise man is in his right side; and the heart of a fool is in his left side. (The heart of a wise person is in the right; and the heart of a fool is in the wrong.)

³ But also a fool going in the way, when he is unwise, guesseth all men fools. (And a fool, going on the way, since he is unwise, thinketh that all the other people be fools.)

⁴ If the spirit of him, that hath power, goeth upon thee, forsake thou not thy place (If the spirit of him, who hath power, goeth against thee, do not leave thy position, that is, do not resign thy post); for curing, or taking heed, shall make (the) greatest sins to cease.

⁵ An evil there is, that I saw under the sun, and going out as by error from the face of the prince; (There is an evil that I saw under the sun, and going out as an error from the leader, or from the ruler;)

⁶ a fool (is) set in high dignity, and rich men sit beneath.

⁷ I saw servants on horses, and princes as servants going on the earth. (I saw servants riding on horses, and princes, or leaders, walking on the ground like servants.)

⁸ He that diggeth a ditch, shall fall into it; and an adder shall bite him, that destroyeth a hedge. (He who diggeth a ditch, shall fall into it; and he who destroyeth a hedge, shall be bitten by a serpent hiding in it.)

⁹ He that beareth over stones, shall be tormented in those; and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded of those. (He who carrieth stones, can be hurt by them; and he who cutteth wood, can be injured when cutting it.)

¹⁰ If iron is folded again, and it is not as before, but is made blunt, it shall be made sharp with much travail; and wisdom shall follow after busyness.

¹¹ If a serpent biteth, it biteth in silence; he that backbiteth privily, hath nothing less than it (he who privately, or secretly, backbiteth someone is no better).

¹² The words of the mouth of a wise man be grace; and the lips of an unwise man shall cast him down. (The words out of the mouth of a wise person bring him favour; but the lips of an unwise person shall bring him down.)

¹³ The beginning of his words is folly; and the last thing of his mouth is the worst error. (His words begin with foolishness; and the last thing out of his mouth is the worst error of all.)

¹⁴ A fool multiplieth words; a man knoweth not, what was before him, and who may show to him that, that shall come after him? (and who can show him what shall come after him?)

¹⁵ The travail of fools shall torment them, that know not how to go into the city. (Fools work themselves to exhaustion, yet they do not even know how to go into the city.)

¹⁶ Land, woe to thee, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat early.

¹⁷ Blessed is the land, whose king is noble; and whose princes eat in their time, to (only) sustain the(ir) kind, and not to lechery. (Happy is the land, whose king is well born, or refined; and whose leaders eat at the proper time, only to sustain themselves, and not unto drunkenness.)

¹⁸ The highness of houses shall be made low in sloths; and the house shall drop (rain) in the feebleness of hands (and a house shall leak due to feeble, or weak, hands).

¹⁹ In laughing, they dispose bread and wine, that they drinking eat largely; and all things obey to money. (With laughter, they array the table with bread and wine, so that they can enjoy all the abundance; for everything showeth obedience to money.)

²⁰ In thy thought backbite thou not the king, and in the private of thy bed, curse thou not a rich man; for the birds of heaven shall bear thy voice, and he that hath pens, shall tell the sentence. (In thy thoughts backbite thou not the king, and in the privacy of thy bed, curse thou not the rich; for the birds of the heavens, or of the air, shall carry thy voice, and he that hath wings, shall tell what thou hast said.)

11 Send thy bread [up]on waters passing forth, for after many times thou shalt find it. (Send thy bread upon the water, and after a time, thou shalt receive it back, and more along with it.)

² Give thou (thy) parts (to) seven, and also (to) eight, (that is, do not put all thy eggs in one basket); for thou knowest not, what evil shall come [up]on (the) earth.

³ If clouds be filled, they shall shed out rain on the earth; if a tree falleth down to the south, either to the north, in whatever place it falleth down, there it shall be.

⁴ He that espieth the wind, soweth not; and he that beholdeth the clouds, shall never reap. (He who looketh for the wind, soweth not; and he who watcheth the clouds, shall never reap, or bring in the harvest.)

⁵ As thou knowest not, which is the way of the spirit, and by what reason bones be joined together in the womb of a woman with child, so thou knowest not the works of God, which is maker of all things (who is the Maker of all things).

⁶ Early sow thy seed, and thine hand cease not in the eventide; for thou knowest not, what shall come forth more, this either that; and if ever either come forth together, it shall be the better. (Sow thy seed early, and do not stop thy work in the evening/and do not stop thy work until the evening; for thou knowest not, what shall come forth more, this or that; or if both will come forth together, and it shall be the better.)