7

智愚之別

¹名譽強如美好的膏油，
人死去的日子勝過他出生的日子。
²往喪家去，
強如往宴樂的家，
因為死是眾人的結局，
活人必將這事放在心上。
³憂愁強如喜笑，
因為面帶愁容，終必使心喜樂。
⁴智慧人的心在遭喪之家；
愚昧人的心在快樂之家。
⁵聽智慧人的責備，
強如聽愚昧人歌唱；
⁶因為愚昧人的笑聲，
好像鍋子下面燒荊棘的爆聲，
這也是虛空。
⁷勒索使智慧人變為愚妄，
賄賂能敗壞人的心。
⁸事情的終局強如它的起頭；
存心忍耐的，勝過居心驕傲的。
⁹你的心不要急躁惱怒，
因為惱怒存在愚昧人的懷中。
¹⁰不要說：
為甚麼先前的日子強過現今的日子呢？
你這樣問不是出於智慧。
¹¹智慧加上產業是美好的，
對見天日的人都有益處。
¹²因為智慧庇護人，
好像金錢庇護人一樣；
智慧能保全智慧者的生命，
這就是知識的益處。
¹³你要觀看上帝的作為，
誰能使他所彎曲的變直呢？
¹⁴順利時要喜樂；患難時當思考。上帝使這兩樣都發生，因此，人不知將會發生甚麼事。
¹⁵在虛度的日子裏，我見過各樣的事情，義人在他的義中滅亡，惡人在他的惡中倒享長壽。 ¹⁶不要行義過分，也不要過於自逞智慧，何必自取敗亡呢？ ¹⁷不要行惡過分，也不要為人愚昧，何必未到期而死呢？ ¹⁸你持守這個，那個也不要鬆手才好。敬畏上帝的人，這一切都能兼得。
¹⁹智慧使擁有智慧的人比城中十個官長更有能力。
²⁰其實世上沒有行善而不犯罪的義人。
²¹人所說的話，你不要都放在心上，免得聽見你的僕人詛咒你。 ²²因為你心裏知道，自己也曾屢次詛咒別人。
²³我曾用智慧試驗這一切事，我說：「要得智慧。」智慧卻離我遠。 ²⁴萬事之理遙不可及，太深奧，誰能測透呢？ ²⁵我轉念，一心要知道，要考察，要尋求智慧和萬事的來由，要知道邪惡為愚昧，愚昧為狂妄。
²⁶我發現有一種婦人比死還苦毒：她本身是陷阱，她的心是羅網，手是鎖鏈。凡蒙上帝喜愛的人必能躲開她；有罪的人卻被她纏住了。 ²⁷傳道者說：「你看，我考察一件又一件，為要尋求萬事的來由，這是我所尋得的： ²⁸我繼續尋找，卻未找到；一千當中，我找到一個男的，但在這一切當中，卻找不到一個女的。 ²⁹你看，我所找到的只有一件，就是上帝造的人是正直的，但他們卻尋出許多詭計。」

7

The Value of Practical Wisdom

¹A ⚓good name is better than precious ointment,
And the day of death than the day of one’s ⚓birth;
²Better to go to the house of mourning
Than to go to the house of feasting,
For that is the end of all men;
And the living will take it to ⚓heart.
³Sorrow is better than laughter,
⚓For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.
⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
⁵⚓It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
Than for a man to hear the song of fools.
⁶⚓For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
So is the laughter of the fool.
This also is vanity.
⁷Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason,
⚓And a bribe debases the heart.
⁸The end of a thing is better than its beginning;
⚓The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
⁹⚓Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry,
For anger rests in the bosom of fools.
¹⁰Do not say,
“Why were the former days better than these?”
For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.
¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
And profitable ⚓to those who see the sun.
¹²For wisdom is a ⚓defense as money is a defense,
But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives ⚓life to those who have it.
¹³Consider the work of God;
For ⚓who can make straight what He has made crooked?
¹⁴⚓In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.
¹⁵I have seen everything in my days of vanity:
⚓There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness,
And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.
¹⁶⚓Do not be overly righteous,
⚓Nor be overly wise:
Why should you destroy yourself?
¹⁷Do not be overly wicked,
Nor be foolish:
⚓Why should you die before your time?
¹⁸It is good that you grasp this,
And also not remove your hand from the other;
For he who ⚓fears God will escape them all.
¹⁹⚓Wisdom strengthens the wise
More than ten rulers of the city.
²⁰⚓For there is not a just man on earth who does good
And does not sin.
²¹Also do not take to heart everything people say,
Lest you hear your servant cursing you.
²²For many times, also, your own heart has known
That even you have cursed others.
²³All this I have proved by wisdom.
⚓I said, “I will be wise”;
But it was far from me.
²⁴⚓As for that which is far off and ⚓exceedingly deep,
Who can find it out?
²⁵⚓I applied my heart to know,
To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things,
To know the wickedness of folly,
Even of foolishness and madness.
²⁶⚓And I find more bitter than death
The woman whose heart is snares and nets,
Whose hands are fetters.
He who pleases God shall escape from her,
But the sinner shall be trapped by her.
²⁷Here is what I have found,” says ⚓the Preacher,
“Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,
²⁸Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find:
⚓One man among a thousand I have found,
But a woman among all these I have not found.
²⁹Truly, this only I have found:
⚓That God made man upright,
But ⚓they have sought out many schemes.”