¹⁹ Wisdom^(A) makes one wise person more powerful^(B)
    than ten rulers in a city.

²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,^(C)
    no one who does what is right and never sins.^(D)

²¹ Do not pay attention to every word people say,
    or you^(E) may hear your servant cursing you—
²² for you know in your heart
    that many times you yourself have cursed others.

“I am determined to be wise”^(F)—
    but this was beyond me.
²⁴ Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
    who can discover it?^(G)
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things^(H)
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.^(I)

²⁶ I find more bitter than death
    the woman who is a snare,^(J)
whose heart is a trap
    and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
    but the sinner she will ensnare.^(K)

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
²⁸     while I was still searching
    but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
    but not one upright woman^(M) among them all.
²⁹ This only have I found:
    God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

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