All the streams are going unto the sea, and the sea is not full; unto a place whither the streams are going, thither they are turning back to go.

All these things are wearying; a man is not able to speak, the eye is not satisfied by seeing, nor filled is the ear from hearing.

There is not a remembrance of former generations; and also of the latter that are, there is no remembrance of them with those that are at the last.

The wise! -- his eyes are in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew that one event happeneth with them all;

That there is no remembrance to the wise -- with the fool -- to the age, for that which is already, in the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart hath not lain down; this also is vanity.

I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves are beasts.

The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust.

And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors is power, and they have no comforter.

And I am praising the dead who have already died above the living who are yet alive.

The two are better than the one, in that they have a good reward by their labour.

I have seen all the living, who are walking under the sun, with the second youth who doth stand in his place;

If oppression of the poor, and violent taking away of judgment and righteousness thou seest in a province, do not marvel at the matter, for a higher than the high is observing, and high ones are over them.

If a man doth beget a hundred, and live many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he hath not had a grave, I have said, 'Better than he is the untimely birth.'

For there are many things multiplying vanity; what advantage is to man?

And I am finding more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is nets and snares, her hands are bands; the good before God escapeth from her, but the sinner is captured by her.

And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This also is vanity.

There is a vanity that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this also is vanity.

But all this I have laid unto my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred doth man know, the whole is before them.

For even man knoweth not his time; as fish that are taken hold of by an evil net, and as birds that are taken hold of by a snare, like these are the sons of man snared at an evil time, when it falleth upon them suddenly.

And I said, 'Better is wisdom than might, and the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.' --

The words of the wise in quiet are heard, More than the cry of a ruler over fools.

Words of the mouth of the wise are gracious, And the lips of a fool swallow him up.

For mirth they are making a feast, And wine maketh life joyful, And the silver answereth with all.

If the thick clouds are full of rain, On the earth they empty themselves; And if a tree doth fall in the south or to the north, The place where the tree falleth, there it is.

In the morning sow thy seed, And at even withdraw not thy hand, For thou knowest not which is right, this or that, Or whether both of them alike are good.

But, if man liveth many years, In all of them let him rejoice, And remember the days of darkness, For they are many! all that is coming is vanity.

And turn aside anger from thy heart, And cause evil to pass from thy flesh, For the childhood and the age are vanity!

And doors have been shut in the street. When the noise of the grinding is low, And one riseth at the voice of the bird, And all daughters of song are bowed down.

Also of that which is high they are afraid, And of the low places in the way, And the almond-tree is despised, And the grasshopper is become a burden, And want is increased, For man is going unto his home age-during, And the mourners have gone round through the street.

Words of the wise are as goads, and as fences planted by the masters of collections, they have been given by one shepherd.