18. Try to be a little of this and a little of that. Even God’s followers will do some good things and some bad things.
19-20. Surely there is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. But wisdom can make one person stronger than ten leaders in a city.
21. Don’t listen to everything people say. You might hear your own servant saying bad things about you.
22. And you know that many times you too have said bad things about other people.
23. I used my wisdom and thought about all these things. I wanted to be wise, but I couldn’t do it.
24. I cannot understand why things are as they are. It is too hard for anyone to understand.