Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a striving after wind.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And, behold, this also was vanity.

And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them. I did not withhold my heart from any joy. For my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.

Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me, and why then was I more wise? Then said I in my heart that this also is vanity.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skillfulness, yet he shall leave it to a man who has not labored in it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief, yea, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

For to the man who pleases him [God] gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.

And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he that he labored for the wind?

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be fitting is [for a man] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor in which he labors under the sun all the days of his life which God has given him, for this is his p

Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God.

A man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it, this [one] has rest rather than the other.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

Say thou not, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou do not inquire wisely concerning this.

All this I have seen in my days of vanity. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs [his life] in his evil-doing.

It is good that thou should take hold of this, yea, also from that withdraw not thy hand. For he who fears God shall come forth from them all.

All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.

Behold, I have found this, says the Preacher, [laying] one thing to another, to find out the account,

Behold, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many contrivances.

All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun. [There is] a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.

So I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were praised in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God. No man understands, either love or hatred. All is before them.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.

I have also seen wisdom under the sun this way, and it seemed great to me:

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou know not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

[This is] the end of the matter, all has been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.