"Vanity of vanities!" says the Teacher, "Vanity of vanities! All [is] vanity!"

All the streams flow to the sea, but the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow.

All things toil continuously; no one can ever finish describing this. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, and the ear is never filled with hearing.

What has been--it is what will be; what has been done--it is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.

There is a thing [of] which it is said, "Look at this! This is new!" [But] it already existed in ages past before us.

There is neither remembrance of former generations, nor will there be remembrance of future generations.

I applied my mind to seek and to search by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. It [is] a grievous task God has given to {humans}.

I saw all the works that are done under the sun. Look! Everything [is] vanity and chasing wind.

What is twisted cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

So {I dedicated myself} to learn about wisdom and [to] learn about delusion and folly. However, I discovered that this also [is] chasing wind.

For in much wisdom [is] much frustration, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.

I said {to myself}, "Come! I will test pleasure {to see whether it is worthwhile}." But look, "This also [is] vanity!"

I said of laughter, "[It is] folly!" and of pleasure, "{What does it accomplish?}"

I also {explored} {the effects of indulging my flesh} with wine. My mind guiding me with wisdom, {I investigated} folly so that I might discover what [is] good under heaven for {humans} to do {during the days of their lives}.

I acquired male slaves and female slaves, as well as children [born in my] house. I also had livestock, cattle, and flocks more than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem.

I also gathered to myself silver and gold--the royal and provincial treasuries. I acquired for myself male and female singers, as well as the delight of {men}, {voluptuous concubines}.

Yet when I considered all the effort which I expended and the toil with which I toiled to do, then behold, "Everything [is] vanity and chasing wind! There is nothing profitable under the sun!"

Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone [do] who will come after the king that has not already been done?

I realized that wisdom has an advantage over folly, just as light has an advantage over darkness.

{The wise man can see where he is walking}, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate.

So I said {to myself}, "{If I also suffer the same fate as the fool}, {what advantage is my great wisdom}?" So I said {to myself}, "This also [is] vanity!"

Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in {future generations}. When [future] days come, both will have been forgotten already. How [is it that] the wise man dies the same as the fool?

So I hated life because the work done under the sun [is] grievous to me. For everything [is] vanity and chasing wind!

And who knows [whether] he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all [the fruit of] my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also [is] vanity!

For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.

All his days [are] painful, his labor [brings] grief, and his heart cannot rest at night. This also [is] vanity!

There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and {find delight} in his toil. For I also realized that this [is] from the hand of God!

For to the person who [is] good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give [it] to [him who is] pleasing to him. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

For everything there [is] an appointed time, a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to bear and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to root up [what is] planted;

So I realized that there is {nothing better} for them than to {rejoice and enjoy themselves} during their lives.

And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, {to enjoy the fruit of all his toil}, this also is a gift of God.

What is--it already was, and what will be--it already is, for {God will do what he has done.}

For the fate of {humans} and the fate of the beast is {the same}. The death of the one is like the death of the other, for {both are mortal}. Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting.

So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy [the fruit of] his labor, for this is his lot in life. {For no one knows what will happen in the future.}

But better [off] than both of them is the one who has not yet been born and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

I also realized that all [of the] toil and all [of] the skillful work that is done--it [is] envy between one man and {another}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Better [is] one handful with peace than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. [He laments,] "For whom am I toiling and depriving {myself} of pleasure?" This also [is] vanity--it is an unhappy business!

For if one falls, his companion may help him up. But pity the one who falls and there is {no one} to help him up.

{Although an assailant may overpower one person, two may withstand him}. A threefold cord {is not easily broken}!

A poor but wise youth [is] better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows {how to receive advice}.

There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be quick to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you [are] on earth; therefore, let your words be few.

It is better that you not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence or [do not see] justice and righteousness in the province. For one official is watched by a higher official, and [there are] even higher officials over them!

The produce of the land is exploited by everyone; {even the king profits from the field [of the poor]}!

Whoever loves money is not satisfied [with] money, and whoever loves wealth [is] not [satisfied with] profit. This also [is] vanity!

When prosperity increases, those who consume it increase. {So its owner gains nothing, except to see his wealth before it is spent}.

The sleep of the laborer [is] pleasant, whether he eats little or much, but the wealth of the rich man does not allow him to rest.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth {hoarded} by its owner to his harm.

Just as he came from his mother's womb naked, {he will depart} just as he came; he will take nothing with him for his toil.

This also [is] a grievous illness. Exactly as he came, so he will go. What profit [does] he gain for all his toil for the wind?

Also, he eats in darkness all his days; he is frustrated [in] much sickness and resentment.

Look! I have discovered what is good and fitting: to eat and to drink and {to enjoy} all [the fruit of] the toil with which one toils under the sun during the number of the days of his life that God gives to him--for this [is] his lot.

This indeed is a gift of God: everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions, he also empowers him {to enjoy them}, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in [the fruit of] his toil.

Here is another misfortune that I have seen under the sun, and it [is] prevalent among humankind.

God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; yet God does not enable him to enjoy it--instead someone else ends up enjoying it. This [is] vanity--indeed, it [is] a grievous ill!

Even if a man fathers a hundred [children] and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart is not satisfied with {his prosperity} and {he does not receive a proper burial}, I deem the stillborn better than him.

For he comes into vanity and departs into darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness.

All of a man's toil [is] for his mouth-- yet his appetite is never satisfied.

So do the wise [really] have an advantage over fools? {Can the poor [really] gain anything by knowing how to act in front of others}?

{Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Whatever is--it was already determined, {what will be--it has already been decided}. As for man, he cannot argue against what is more powerful than him.

For who knows what [is] good for a man in his life during the few days of his fleeting life, which are fleeting as a shadow? For who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future} under the sun?

A good name [is] better than precious ointment, and the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for [death is] the end of every person, and the living should take [it] to his heart.

Sorrow [is] better than laughter, for by sadness of countenance the heart is made good.

The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools [is] in the house of mirth.

Better to listen to [the] rebuke of [the] wise than for a man to listen to [the] song of fools.

Like the sound of thorns under a pot, so also the laughter of fools. This also [is] vanity!

Surely oppression makes a fool of the wise, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

The end of a matter [is] better than its beginning; {better to be slow to anger than hot-headed}.

Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For [it is] not from wisdom [that] you ask this.

Wisdom [is] good with an inheritance; {it benefits the living}.

Consider the work of God. For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?

Do not be excessively righteous, and do not act excessively wise, lest you destroy yourself.

[It is] good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other; for whoever fears God will hold both of them secure.

Wisdom gives more strength to the wise than ten rulers who are in the city.

Surely there is no one righteous on the earth who [continually] does good and never sins.

All this I have tested with wisdom. I said, "I will be wise!" but {it was beyond my grasp}.

{Whatever is--it is far beyond comprehension}. Who can discover it?

I set my mind to try to seek wisdom and the plan, and to know that wickedness [is] foolishness and that folly [is] delusion.

I myself found [that] more bitter than death [is] the woman who [is] a trap, whose heart [is] a snare, and whose hands [are] bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

Who [is] like the sage? Who knows [the] interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

Do not be terrified of his presence! Go at once and do not delay when a matter [is] unpleasant, for he can do anything that he desires.

Since the word of the king [is] supreme, no one can say to him, "What are you doing?"

Whoever obeys [his] command will not suffer disaster. The wise mind knows the [proper] time and the right [procedure].

For there is a [proper] time and right [procedure] for every matter, even though the trouble of man [weighs] heavy upon him.

Just as no one can control the wind to restrain the wind, so also no one can control the day of his death. Just as no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not deliver the wicked.

I saw all this as I applied my heart to all the deeds done under the sun: {sometimes those in authority harm others}.

Meanwhile, I saw the wicked being [honorably] buried, but those who came and went from the holy place were forgotten in the city, even though they had done so. This also [is] vanity!

Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of {humans} fills up within them to do evil.

But it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not prolong [their] days, like the shadow; because there is no fearing {God's presence}.

There [is] a vanity that happens on earth: sometimes the righteous suffer what the wicked deserve, and sometimes the wicked receive what the righteous deserve. I said, "This also [is] vanity!"

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and to understand the business that is done on earth--how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep.

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

So all this I laid to my heart, and I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, [are] in the hand of God. So no one knows anything that will [come] to them, whether [it will be] love or hatred.

The same fate [comes] to everyone: to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice. As [with] the good [man], so also to the sinner; [as with] those who swear an oath, so [also] those who fear oaths.