What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth?

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

No one remembers those in the past, nor will they be remembered by those who come after them.

Thus I have considered all the things that come to pass under the Sun, and lo, they are all but vanity and vexation of mind.

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

I got men-servants and women-servants, and they gave birth to sons and daughters in my house. I had great wealth of herds and flocks, more than all who were in Jerusalem before me.

I neither withheld anything from my eyes that they desired, nor did I deprive any pleasure from my heart. My heart rejoiced in all my toil, for this was my reward from all my toil.

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!

For a wise man beareth his eyes about in his head, but the fool goeth in the darkness. I perceived also that they both had one end.

All this hath he ordained marvelous goodly, to every thing his due time. He hath planted ignorance also in the hearts of men, that they should not find out the ground of his works, which he doth from the beginning to the end.

I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.

I have known that all that God doth is to the age, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God hath wrought that they do fear before Him.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

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

They go all unto one place, for as they be all of dust, so shall they all turn unto dust again.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

And I praise the dead already dead more than the living they yet living.

Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

I saw all the living that walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the second, that stood up in his stead.

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

For oft times they perish with his great misery and trouble: and if he have a child it getteth nothing.

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.'

Furthermore, though they never saw the sun nor learned anything, they are more content than the other.

For when there are many words, they increase futility. What is the advantage for man?

For no one knows what is best for a person during his life -- during the few days of his fleeting life -- for they pass away like a shadow. Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth.

Say not thou, "What is the cause that the days of the old time were better than they that be now?" For that were no wise question.

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

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

And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his days, yet I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, because they fear before him;

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 meaningless and futile thing which is done on the earth: that is, there are righteous men whose gain is as though they were evil, and evil men whose gain is as though they were righteous. I say that this too is futility (meaningless, vain).

In light of all of this, I committed myself to explain it this way: the righteous and the wise, along with everything they do, are in the hands of God. Furthermore, as to love and hate, no human being knows everything concerning them.

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto 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.

And why? As long as a man liveth, he is careless: for a quick dog, say they, is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

For also man knew not his time: as the fishes being laid hold of in an evil net, and as the birds laid hold of in the snare, as they, the sons of men being snared for an evil time, as it will fall upon them suddenly.

A fool also makes many words; a man knows not what they shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

The labour of fools wearieth them, because they know not how to go to the city.

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

If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.

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

But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

and the doors are shut toward the street; when the sound of the grinding is subdued, and they rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

The words of the wise are as goads, and the collections of them as nails fastened in: they are given from one shepherd.

For God shall judge all works and secret things, whether they be good or evil.