Ecclesiastes 7:15-17

New Catholic Bible

Whoever Wants To Be an Angel Ends Up as a Beast^[a]

¹⁵During my span of life I have seen everything:

Righteous people who perish in their uprightness,
    and wicked people who grow old in their wickedness.
¹⁶Do not be excessively righteous
    or show yourself to be unduly wise.^[b]
    Why should you destroy yourself?
¹⁷Do not be excessively wicked
    or act like a fool.
    Why should you die before your time?^[c]

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 7:15 We should not imagine that by dint of our performance in justice, i.e., in virtue, we could guarantee our future and rejoice at the fall of the wicked. Such a pretense would ordinarily become perverted into pride and severity. Wisdom is the power of life, but no one can possess it; we can only try to live wisely and humbly.
Ecclesiastes 7:16 Excessively righteous . . . unduly wise: these attitudes are to be avoided, for they lead to self-righteousness and pride.
Ecclesiastes 7:17 In Old Testament times, the wicked were regarded as certain to undergo an untimely end at the hand of God (see 1 Sam 2:31-34; Ps 55:24; Prov 10:27; Jer 17:11).

Ecclesiastes 7:15-17

New International Version

¹⁵In this meaningless life^(A) of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.^(B)
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?^(C)