1 A good name {shem: enduring reputation} is better than good oil, and the day of death {mavet: final transition} than the day of one’s birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end {sof: death} of every person, and the living will lay it to his heart {libbo: inner understanding}.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter {sechok: temporary joy}, for by the sadness of the face the heart is made better {lev: inner self}.
4 The heart of the wise {chachamim: people of insight} is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of joy {simchah: festive gladness}.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of a wise man {khakam: one skilled in wisdom} than for a man to listen to the song of fools {kesilim: those lacking understanding}.
6 For as the crackling of thorns {hasirim: prickly shrubs} under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool; this also is vanity {havel: fleeting emptiness}.
7 For oppression {haosheq: systemic injustice} makes a wise man mad, and a gift destroys the heart {lev: core identity}.
8 Better is the end of a matter than its beginning; better is one patient in spirit {erekh-ruach: long-suffering attitude} than one proud in spirit {gevah-ruach: arrogant disposition}.
9 Do not be hasty {tevahel: impulsive promptness} in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools {kesilim: morally senseless ones}.
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days {harishonim: earlier era} better than these?” For you have not asked about this from wisdom {chokhmah: divine insight}.
11 Wisdom {chokhmah: skillful understanding} is good with an inheritance {nachalah: familial provision}, and even more so for those who see the sun.
12 For in the shadow {tsel: protective shade} of wisdom, as in the shadow of silver, the advantage {yitron: superiority} of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of those who possess it.
13 See the work of God {ha’elohim, Sovereign Worker}; for who can make straight what He has made crooked {iveto: bent by design}?
14 In the day of prosperity {tovah: favorable period} be joyful, and in the day of adversity observe: God {haElohim, Sovereign Arranger} has made this as well as that so that no one finds anything after him.
15 I saw all things in the days of my vanity: there is a righteous man {tsaddik: just person} who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man {rasha: evildoer} who prolongs his life in his wickedness.
16 Do not be overly righteous {tsaddiq: just}, and do not make yourself excessively wise; why should you destroy {tishomem: bring ruin} yourself?
17 Do not be excessively {harbeh: great excess} wicked, and do not be foolish; why should you die before your time {itekha: appointed limit}?
18 It is good that you should take hold {te’echoz: firm grasp} of this, and also do not let your hand go; for the one who fears God {Elohim, Object of Awe} will emerge from all of them.
19 Wisdom strengthens the wise man {chakam: discerning one} more than ten rulers {shalitim: authoritative rulers} who are in the city.
20 For there is not a righteous man {tsaddiq: just} on the earth who does good and never sins {yecheta: commits wrongdoing}.
21 Also do not set your heart on all the words {devarim: all utterances} that people speak, lest you hear your servant cursing {mekalellekha: pronouncing a curse} you.
22 For your heart has known many times {peamim: repeated occasions} that you yourself have also cursed {qillalta: deliberately condemned} others.
23 All this I tested {nasah: thorough examination} by wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was distant {rechokah: beyond attainment} from me.
24 What has been {mah-shehayah: past events} is far beyond reach, and it is deep—very deep {amok: profound abyss}; who can uncover it?
25 I turned my mind and heart to know, to search out, and to seek wisdom and insight, and to know wickedness, folly, and the senselessness {siklut: lack of judgment} of madness {holelot: uncontrolled acts}.
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets—her heart is bonds, her hands are fetters {asurim: Binding Restraints}. The one who is good before God {Elohim, Righteous Judge} will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.
27 See, this I have found, says Qohelet {qohelet: assembler of wisdom}, one by one to find the account {cheshbon: careful calculation}.
28 My soul {nefesh: life essence} still sought, but I have not found. I have found one man {adam: human individual} among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these.
29 Only this have I found: God {Elohim, Wise Designer} made humankind upright, but they have sought many schemes {chishbonot: intricate plans}.