I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:

I bought men-servants and maid-servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all that were before me in Jerusalem;

I gathered to me also silver and gold, and the wealth of kings, and the provinces: I made to me men singing and women singing, and the delights of the sons of men, a wife and mistresses.

Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

Then turned I me to consider wisdom, error and foolishness: for what is he among men, that might be compared to me the king in such work?

The wise, his eyes in his head; and the foolish one goes in darkness: and I knew, I also, that one event will meet with them all.

And I said in my heart, As the event of the foolish one, also I, it will meet me; and wherefore then was I more wise? And I spake in my heart, This is also vanity.

There is nothing better for a man than taking meat and drink, and having delight in his work. This again I saw was from the hand of God.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

I know everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it, for God so acts that humans might stand in awe before him.

I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

And though one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

For out of prison he comes to reign; yet he that is born in his kingdom might become poor.

Do not allow your speech to cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger (priest) of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of your voice (words) and destroy the work of your hands?

This is what I have seen: it is good and fair for a man to take meat and drink and to have joy in all his work under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; that is his reward.

a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the power or capacity to enjoy them [all those things which are gifts from God], but a stranger [in whom he has no interest succeeds him and] enjoys them. This is vanity and it is a [cause of] great distress.

A man might father a hundred children, and live for many years, so that the length of his life is long but if his life does not overflow with goodness, and he doesn't receive a proper burial, I maintain that stillborn children are better off than he is,

That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yea, God hath made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything that shall be after him.

So do not be excessively righteous or excessively wise; otherwise you might be disappointed.

Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool; otherwise you might die before your time.

Also, do not pay attention to everything that people say; otherwise, you might even hear your servant cursing you.

yea, and so deep that I might not reach unto her.

Behold - sayeth the preacher - this have I diligently searched out and proved, that I might come by knowledge: which as yet I seek, and find it not.

Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

Keep the king's commandment, I warn thee, and the oath that thou hast made unto God.

Even though a sinner might commit a hundred crimes and still live a long time, yet I know that it will go well with God-fearing people -- for they stand in fear before him.

So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

I understood of all the works of God, that it is not possible for a man, to attain unto works that are done under the Sun: and though he bestow his labour to seek them out, yet can he not reach unto them: yea, though a wise man would undertake to know them, yet might he not find them.

Among all things that come to pass under the Sun, this is a mystery, that it happeneth unto all alike. This is the cause also that the hearts of men are full of wickedness, and mad foolishness is in their hearts, as long as they live, until they die.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

I considered and observed on earth the following: The race doesn't go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor food to the wise, nor wealth to the smart, nor recognition to the skilled. Instead, timing and circumstances meet them all.

There was a little town and the number of its men was small, and there came a great king against it and made an attack on it, building works of war round about it.

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

Someone who quarries stone might be injured; someone splitting logs can fall into danger.

When an iron is blunt, and the point not sharpened, it must be whet again, and that with might. Even so doth wisdom follow diligence.

Happy art thou, O land, When thy king is a son of freemen, And thy princes do eat in due season, For might, and not for drunkenness.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.

Even in thy thought, do not revile, the king, nor, within thy bed-chambers, revile thou the rich, - for, a bird of the heavens, might carry the voice, yea, an owner of wings, might tell the matter.

Apportion what you have into seven, or even eight parts, because you don't know what disaster might befall the land.

As you have no knowledge of the way of the wind, or of the growth of the bones in the body of her who is with child, even so you have no knowledge of the works of God who has made all.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the men of might bow themselves, - and the grinders cease because they are few, and they who look through the windows are darkened;

When the doors are shut in the street, and the sound of the crushing is low, and the voice of the bird is soft, and the daughters of music will be made low;

then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

And further, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, and gave ear, and sought out -- he made right many similes.

The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true.

Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

The Beloved to Her Lover: Tell me, O you whom my heart loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest I wander around beside the flocks of your companions!

I have made a comparison of you, O my love, to a horse in Pharaoh's carriages.

Then shall thy cheeks and thy neck be made fair, and hanged with spangles and goodly jewels:

Cedar-trees are the pillars of our house; and our boards are made of fir-trees.

SHEI am The meadow-saffron of Sharon, The lily of the valleys.

King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

Look at you! You are beautiful, my darling. Look at you! You are so beautiful. Your eyes behind your veil are doves, your hair is like a flock of goats coming down from Mt. Gilead.

Your neck is like the tower of David made for a store-house of arms, in which a thousand breastplates are hanging, breastplates for fighting-men.

O that I might go to the mountain of Myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense, till the day break, and till the shadows be past away.

You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride. You have made my heart beat faster with one glance of your eyes, with one strand of your necklace.

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; to take my myrrh with my spice; my wax with my honey; my wine with my milk. Take meat, O friends; take wine, yes, be overcome with love.

I made the door open to my loved one; but my loved one had taken himself away, and was gone, my soul was feeble when his back was turned on me; I went after him, but I did not come near him; I said his name, but he gave me no answer.

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!

Turn round thine eyes from before me, Because they have made me proud. Thy hair is as a row of the goats, That have shone from Gilead,

Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

Your neck is like a tower made of ivory. Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus.

{How I wish that you were my little brother}, [who] nursed {upon my mother's breasts}! [If] {I met you outside}, I would kiss you, {and no one would despise me}!

if I took thee, and brought thee into my mother's house - that thou mightest teach me, and that I might give thee drink of spiced wine and of the sweet sap of my pomegranates.

Who is this, who comes up from the waste places, resting on her loved one? It was I who made you awake under the apple-tree, where your mother gave you birth; there she was in pain at your birth.

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have reared and brought up sons,
But they have rebelled against Me and have broken away.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is in it no soundness, Bruise and stripe and newly-made wound, - They have not been pressed out, nor bound up, nor soothed with oil.

Your country has become waste; your towns are burned with fire; as for your land, it is overturned before your eyes, made waste and overcome by men from strange lands.

Unless Jehovah of armies left to us an escaping so small, we were as Sodom and we were made like to Gomorrah.

Come, I pray you, and let us settle the disputer Saith Yahweh, - Though your sins be found like scarlet, As snow, shall they be made white, Though they appear red like crimson, As wool, shall they become.

And as for the glory of your graven images, it shall be turned to dry straw, and he that made them to a spark. And they shall both burn together, so that no man shall be able to quench them.

Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:

The high looks of man will be put to shame, and the pride of men will be made low, and only the Lord will be lifted up in that day.

And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for what account is to be made of him?

For lo, shall the LORD God of Hosts doth take away from Jerusalem and Judah all possessions and power, all meat and drink,

Man of might and man of war, - Judge and prophet And diviner and elder;

And I have made youths their heads, And sucklings rule over them.

Then shall he swear and say, "I cannot help you. Moreover, there is neither meat nor clothing in my house, make me no ruler of the people."

The Lord comes to be the judge of their responsible men and of their rulers: it is you who have made waste the vine-garden, and in your houses is the property of the poor which you have taken by force.

And Jehovah made bald the crown of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah opened the redundance.

For instead of glory, thy men by sword do fall, And thy might in battle.

Then shall seven wives take hold of one man, and say, "We will lay all our meat and clothing together in common, only that we may be called thy wives, and that this shameful reproof may be taken from us."

When Zion has been washed from her sin by the Lord, and Jerusalem made clean from her blood by a judging and a burning wind.

And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes?

Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it.

And his voice will be loud over him in that day like the sounding of the sea: and if a man's eyes are turned to the earth, it is all dark and full of trouble; and the light is made dark by thick clouds.

and he made it touch my mouth, and said, Behold, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin expiated.

Dull the minds of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.

Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field;

Because Aram has made evil designs against you, saying,

-- And it hath passed over into it, hardened and hungry, And it hath come to pass, That it is hungry, and hath been wroth, And made light of its king, and of its God, And hath looked upwards.