¹How bitter, death,

is the thought of you

to those who are at peace

among their possessions,

to those who aren’t anxiously distracted, who prosper at everything

²Your sentence looks good, death,

to a person who is needy

and lacks strength,

who is extremely old and anxious

about everything,

who is not compliant

and whose endurance has failed.

³Don’t fear death’s judgment;

remember those who came before you

and those who will come after you.

⁴This is the Lord’s judgment for all beings:

Why should you reject

the good pleasure of the Most High?

Whether ten or one hundred

or one thousand years,

there’s no arguing about life

in the grave.

⁵The children of sinners are detestable,

and they live together

in the neighborhoods of the ungodly.

⁶The inheritance of sinners’ children

will be destroyed,

and their offspring

will always live in disgrace.

⁷Children will blame an ungodly father,

because they will be disgraced

because of him.

⁸How terrible it will be for you

who are ungodly,

who have abandoned the Law

of the Most High!

⁹When you are born,

you are born to a curse,

and when you die,

you will leave a curse as your legacy.

¹⁰Everything that’s from the earth

will go back to the earth;

so the ungodly come from a curse

and go to destruction.

¹¹Human beings show their grief

in their bodies,

but the no-good name of sinners

will be erased.

¹²Guard your reputation,

for it will continue after you

longer than one thousand

great treasures of gold.

¹³A good life has a limited number of days,

but a good name will continue forever.

On shame

¹⁴Hold on to your education in peace,

my children.

Hidden wisdom

and an invisible treasure—

¹⁵People who hide their foolishness

are better than people

who hide their wisdom.

¹⁶Therefore, respect my judgment,

because it isn’t good to guard

against every shame,

and not everyone, in good faith,

holds all the same things

in good repute.

¹⁷Be ashamed:

of sexual immorality

before your father and mother,

of lying before a prince or leader,

¹⁸of error before a judge and an official,

of lawlessness before the assembly

and the people,

of injustice before a partner and friend,

¹⁹of theft in the neighborhood

where you are staying.

Be ashamed:

before the Lord’s truth and covenant,

of leaning on your elbow at meals,

of showing contempt

when receiving or giving,

²⁰of silence when people greet you,

of looking at a female escort,

²¹of turning away a relative,

of depriving someone of a share

or a gift,

of staring at another man’s wife,

²²of fooling around with his

female servant—

of reproachful words before friends