ECB(i)
1 Better a name, than ointment; and the day of death, than the day of birth:
2 better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of banqueting; for that is the end of all humanity; and the living gives to his heart:
3 better vexation than laughter; for by the evil of the face the heart becomes well-pleased.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; and the heart of fools in the house of cheerfulness.
5 Better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the voice of thorns under a caldron, thus the laughter of the fool; this also is vanity.
7 Through oppression, the wise halal; and a gift destroys the heart.
8 Better the final word than the beginning: better the yearning spirit than the lofty spirit.
9 Be not hasty in your spirit to be vexed; for vexation rests in the bosom of fools.
10 Say not, How be it so, that the first days were better than these? for you asked not by wisdom concerning this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance; and more to them who see the sun:
12 for wisdom is a shadow; silver is a shadow; and the advantage of knowledge, wisdom enlivens its masters!
13 See the work of Elohim; for who can straighten what he twists?
14 In the day of good, be joyful; and in the day of evil, see: Elohim also worked this against that, to the word, so that humanity find naught after him.
15 I saw it all in the days of my vanity: the just who destructs in his justness; and the wicked who prolongs in his evil
16 - neither be aboundingly just; nor more enwisened. Why desolate yourself?
17 Neither be aboundingly wicked; nor foolish: Why die ere your time?
18 It is good to take hold of this; yes, also leave not your hand from this; for he who awes Elohim, goes out with them all.
19 Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten potentates in the city:
20 for there is not a just human on earth, who works good and sins not.
21 Also, give not your heart to all words that are worded; lest you hear your servant abase you;
22 for often times also your own heart knows that you yourself also abased others.
23 I tested all this by wisdom; I said, I enwisen; and it is far from me.
24 That which is far off and deep deep, who can find out?
25 I turned my heart around to know and to explore and to seek out wisdom and the machinations and to know the wickedness of folly - even of folly and madness;
26 and I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is lairs and devoted and her hands as bands; whoever is good at the face of Elohim escapes from her; and the sinner is captured by her.
27 See, I found this, says the Congregationer, one by one, to find out the machinations;
28 my soul still seeks, and I find not; one human among a thousand I found; but a woman among all those I found not.
29 See, this only I found, that Elohim worked humanity straight; and they - they sought out many machinations.