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.

I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where is this -- the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.

And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what is the man who cometh after the king? that which is already -- they have done it!

I have known that all that God doth is to the age, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God hath wrought that they do fear before Him.

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.

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.

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

For if they fall, the one raiseth up his companion, but woe to the one who falleth and there is not a second to raise him up!

Also, if two lie down, then they have heat, but how hath one heat?

Keep thy feet when thou goest unto a house of God, and draw near to hear rather than to give of fools the sacrifice, for they do not know they do evil.

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.'

Also to all the words that they speak give not thy heart, that thou hear not thy servant reviling thee.

See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they -- they have sought out many devices.

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.

For the living know that they die, and the dead know not anything, and there is no more to them a reward, for their remembrance hath been forgotten.

Their love also, their hatred also, their envy also, hath already perished, and they have no more a portion to the age in all that hath been done under the sun.

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.

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.

In the day that keepers of the house tremble, And men of strength have bowed themselves, And grinders have ceased, because they have become few. And those looking out at the windows have become dim,

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.