Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

²When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴By justice a king gives a country stability, but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down.

⁵Those who flatter their neighbors are spreading nets for their feet.

⁶Evildoers are snared by their own sin, but the righteous shout for joy and are glad.

⁷The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

⁸Mockers stir up a city, but the wise turn away anger.

⁹If a wise person goes to court with a fool, the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate a person of integrity and seek to kill the upright.

¹¹Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.

¹³The poor and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives sight to the eyes of both.

¹⁴If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will be established forever.

¹⁵A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother.

¹⁶When the wicked thrive, so does sin, but the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire.

¹⁸Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.

¹⁹Servants cannot be corrected by mere words; though they understand, they will not respond.

²⁰Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them.

²¹A servant pampered from youth will turn out to be insolent.

²²An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.

²³Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor.

²⁴The accomplices of thieves are their own enemies; they are put under oath and dare not testify.

²⁵Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

²⁶Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the LORD that one gets justice.

²⁷The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.

¹The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an inspired utterance. This man’s utterance to Ithiel: “I am weary, God, but I can prevail.

²Surely I am only a brute, not a man; I do not have human understanding.

³I have not learned wisdom, nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!

⁵“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

⁷“Two things I ask of you, LORD; do not refuse me before I die:

⁸Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

⁹Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

¹⁰“Do not slander a servant to their master, or they will curse you, and you will pay for it.

¹¹“There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers;

¹²those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth;

¹³those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful;

¹⁴those whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth and the needy from among mankind.

¹⁵“The leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry. “There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:

¹⁶the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’

¹⁷“The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.

¹⁸“There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand:

¹⁹the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman.

²⁰“This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

²¹“Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:

²²a servant who becomes king, a godless fool who gets plenty to eat,

²³a contemptible woman who gets married, and a servant who displaces her mistress.

²⁴“Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise:

²⁵Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;

²⁶hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags;

²⁷locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks;

²⁸a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

²⁹“There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing:

³⁰a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing;

³¹a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt.

³²“If you play the fool and exalt yourself, or if you plan evil, clap your hand over your mouth!

³³For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.”

¹The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.

²Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb! Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers!

³Do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.

⁴It is not for kings, Lemuel— it is not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer,

⁵lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

⁶Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish!

⁷Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more.

⁸Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.

⁹Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

¹⁰A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

¹¹Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

¹²She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

¹³She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

¹⁴She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.

¹⁶She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.

¹⁸She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

¹⁹In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

²⁰She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.

²¹When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

²²She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes.

²⁵She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.

²⁶She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

²⁹“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

³⁰Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

³¹Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

¹The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

²“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

³What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?

⁴Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

⁵The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

⁶The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

⁷All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

⁸All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

⁹What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

¹¹No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

¹²I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!

¹⁴I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹⁵What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”

¹⁷Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

¹⁸For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

¹I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.

²“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”

³I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

⁴I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.

⁵I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

⁶I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.

⁷I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.

⁸I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart.

⁹I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

¹⁰I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.

¹¹Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

¹²Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?

¹³I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.

¹⁴The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.

¹⁵Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.”

¹⁶For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹⁸I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.

²⁰So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.

²¹For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

²²What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?

²³All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

²⁴A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,

²⁵for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

²⁶To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil?

¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.

¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

¹²I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

¹³That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.

¹⁴I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

¹⁵Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

¹⁶And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

¹⁷I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

¹⁸I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.

¹⁹Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.

²⁰All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

²¹Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²²So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

¹Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.

²And I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive.

³But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

⁴And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

⁵Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.

⁶Better one handful with tranquillity than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

⁷Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:

⁸There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This too is meaningless— a miserable business!

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

¹⁰If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

¹¹Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?

¹²Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

¹³Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.

¹⁴The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.

¹⁵I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor.

¹⁶There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

²Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

³A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool.

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.

⁵It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.

⁶Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?

⁷Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.

⁸If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.

⁹The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

¹⁰Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

¹¹As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?

¹²The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.

¹³I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,

¹⁴or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit.

¹⁵Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.

¹⁶This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind?

¹⁷All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.

¹⁸This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.

¹⁹Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.

²⁰They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.

¹I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind:

²God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.

³A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

⁴It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded.

⁵Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man—

⁶even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

⁷Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied.

⁸What advantage have the wise over fools? What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?

⁹Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

¹⁰Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger.

¹¹The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?

¹²For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

¹A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.

²It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.

³Frustration is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart.

⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

⁵It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.

⁶Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless.

⁷Extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

⁸The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

⁹Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.

¹⁰Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.

¹¹Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun.

¹²Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it.

¹³Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?

¹⁴When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.

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

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

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

¹⁸It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

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

²⁰Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.

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

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

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

²⁴Whatever exists is far off and most profound— who can discover it?

²⁵So 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.

²⁶I 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, “this is what I have discovered: “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—

²⁸while I was still searching but not finding— I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.

²⁹This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

¹Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person’s wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance.

²Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God.

³Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

⁴Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

⁶For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.

⁷Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?

⁸As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁹All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt.

¹⁰Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

¹¹When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.

¹²Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.

¹³Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

¹⁵So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night—

¹⁷then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

¹So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.

²All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

³This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

⁴Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.

⁶Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.

⁸Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

⁹Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

¹¹I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

¹²Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

¹³I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me:

¹⁴There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.

¹⁵Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.

¹⁶So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.

¹⁷The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

¹As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

²The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.

³Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are.

⁴If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your post; calmness can lay great offenses to rest.

⁵There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler:

⁶Fools are put in many high positions, while the rich occupy the low ones.

⁷I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.

⁸Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake.

⁹Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

¹⁰If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.

¹¹If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee.

¹²Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips.

¹³At the beginning their words are folly; at the end they are wicked madness—

¹⁴and fools multiply words. No one knows what is coming— who can tell someone else what will happen after them?

¹⁵The toil of fools wearies them; they do not know the way to town.

¹⁶Woe to the land whose king was a servant and whose princes feast in the morning.

¹⁷Blessed is the land whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at a proper time— for strength and not for drunkenness.

¹⁸Through laziness, the rafters sag; because of idle hands, the house leaks.

¹⁹A feast is made for laughter, wine makes life merry, and money is the answer for everything.

²⁰Do not revile the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.