All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.

And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.

And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.

Then I saw that wisdom is better than foolish ways--as the light is better than the dark.

For neither the wise nor the fool will be long remembered, since in days to come everything will be forgotten. The wise man dies the same way as the fool, does he not?

And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Either way, he will take possession of everything that I have done on earth, especially where I have excelled. This also is pointless.

I have concluded that everything that God undertakes will last for eternity nothing can be added to it nor taken away from it and that God acts this way so that people will fear him.

For what happens to people also happens to animals a single event happens to them: just as someone dies, so does the other. In fact, they all breathe the same way, so that a human being has no superiority over an animal. All of this is pointless.

Moreover the earth is every way profitable: the king himself is dependent upon the field.

For he cometh to naught, and goeth his way into darkness, and his name is forgotten.

The wise are troubled by the ways of the cruel, and the giving of money is the destruction of the heart.

Though a sinner be committing wickedness a hundred times, and continuing long in his own way, yet I surely know that it shall be well to them who revere God, who stand in awe before him;

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.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

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

Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

The fool is so worn out by a hard day's work {he cannot even find his way home at night}.

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know what shall be blessed, either this or that, or whether they both shall be fruitful in the same way.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

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: