The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

What does a person gain in all his toil with which he toils under the sun?

The wind goes to the south and goes around to the north; around and around it goes, and on its circuit the wind returns.

All things toil continuously; no one can ever finish describing this. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, and the ear is never filled with hearing.

There is a thing [of] which it is said, "Look at this! This is new!" [But] it already existed in ages past before us.

I, the Teacher, [was] king over Israel in Jerusalem.

{I said to myself}, "Look! I have become great and have increased [in] wisdom more than anyone who {has preceded} me over Jerusalem. {I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge}."

For in much wisdom [is] much frustration, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.

I also {explored} {the effects of indulging my flesh} with wine. My mind guiding me with wisdom, {I investigated} folly so that I might discover what [is] good under heaven for {humans} to do {during the days of their lives}.

I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted all [sorts of] fruit trees in them.

I acquired male slaves and female slaves, as well as children [born in my] house. I also had livestock, cattle, and flocks more than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem.

Thus, {I accomplished far more} than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem--indeed, my wisdom stood by 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.

Yet when I considered all the effort which I expended and the toil with which I toiled to do, then behold, "Everything [is] vanity and chasing wind! There is nothing profitable under the sun!"

I realized that wisdom has an advantage over folly, just as light has an advantage over darkness.

{The wise man can see where he is walking}, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate.

Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in {future generations}. When [future] days come, both will have been forgotten already. How [is it that] the wise man dies the same as the fool?

For what does a person receive for all his toil and in the longing of his heart with which he toils under the sun?

There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and {find delight} in his toil. For I also realized that this [is] from the hand of God!

For to the person who [is] good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give [it] to [him who is] pleasing to him. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

For everything there [is] an appointed time, a time for every matter under heaven:

What does the worker gain in his toil?

He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put {the past} in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does 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 to myself concerning {humans}, "God sifts them in order to show them that they are like beasts."

For the fate of {humans} and the fate of the beast is {the same}. The death of the one is like the death of the other, for {both are mortal}. Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting.

Both go to one place--both came from dust and both return to dust.

For no one knows [whether] the spirit of a human ascends [to heaven] and [whether] the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!

So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy [the fruit of] his labor, for this is his lot in life. {For no one knows what will happen in the future.}

I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun. {I saw the tears of the oppressed-- no one comforts them! Those who oppress them are powerful-- no one can comfort them}!

But better [off] than both of them is the one who has not yet been born and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

I also realized that all [of the] toil and all [of] the skillful work that is done--it [is] envy between one man and {another}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

{The fool refuses to work with his hands, so he has nothing to eat except his own skin}!

Better [is] one handful with peace than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. [He laments,] "For whom am I toiling and depriving {myself} of pleasure?" This also [is] vanity--it is an unhappy business!

Two [are] better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil.

For if one falls, his companion may help him up. But pity the one who falls and there is {no one} to help him up.

Also if two lie together, {they can keep each other warm}. But how can one person be warm?

{Although an assailant may overpower one person, two may withstand him}. A threefold cord {is not easily broken}!

A poor but wise youth [is] better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows {how to receive advice}.

For he came out of the prison house to reign, {since he was born poor in his kingdom}.

I saw all the living who move about under the sun with the youth; the second who will stand in his place.

There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; draw near to listen [rather] than to offer a sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be quick to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you [are] on earth; therefore, let your words be few.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for {he takes no pleasure} in fools. Fulfill what you vow!

Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence or [do not see] justice and righteousness in the province. For one official is watched by a higher official, and [there are] even higher officials over them!

When prosperity increases, those who consume it increase. {So its owner gains nothing, except to see his wealth before it is spent}.

That wealth was lost in a bad venture. Although he has borne a child, {he has nothing to leave to him}.

Also, he eats in darkness all his days; he is frustrated [in] much sickness and resentment.

Look! I have discovered what is good and fitting: to eat and to drink and {to enjoy} all [the fruit of] the toil with which one toils under the sun during the number of the days of his life that God gives to him--for this [is] his lot.

This indeed is a gift of God: everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions, he also empowers him {to enjoy them}, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in [the fruit of] his toil.

For he comes into vanity and departs into darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness.

So do the wise [really] have an advantage over fools? {Can the poor [really] gain anything by knowing how to act in front of others}?

For who knows what [is] good for a man in his life during the few days of his fleeting life, which are fleeting as a shadow? For who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future} under the sun?

A good name [is] better than precious ointment, and the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth.

The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools [is] in the house of mirth.

Do not be quick in your spirit to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

Wisdom [is] good with an inheritance; {it benefits the living}.

{For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection}. But knowledge [has] an advantage--wisdom restores life to its possessor.

In the day of prosperity, rejoice! But in the day of adversity, consider! For God made one in place of another so that mortals cannot find out what will happen {in the future}.

I have seen all these things in my vain life: Sometimes a righteous man perishes in [spite of] his righteousness, and sometimes a wicked man lives a long life in [spite of] his evil.

[It is] good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other; for whoever fears God will hold both of them secure.

Wisdom gives more strength to the wise than ten rulers who are in the city.

Surely there is no one righteous on the earth who [continually] does good and never sins.

Do not pay attention to everything people say, lest you hear your own servant curse you.

I myself found [that] more bitter than death [is] the woman who [is] a trap, whose heart [is] a snare, and whose hands [are] bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

What my heart sought, I did not find. Although I found one righteous man among one thousand, I did not find one [upright] woman among all these.

Do not be terrified of his presence! Go at once and do not delay when a matter [is] unpleasant, for he can do anything that he desires.

Since the word of the king [is] supreme, no one can say to him, "What are you doing?"

Surely no one knows what will be, so who can tell anyone what will happen?

Just as no one can control the wind to restrain the wind, so also no one can control the day of his death. Just as no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not deliver the wicked.

I saw all this as I applied my heart to all the deeds done under the sun: {sometimes those in authority harm others}.

Meanwhile, I saw the wicked being [honorably] buried, but those who came and went from the holy place were forgotten in the city, even though they had done so. This also [is] vanity!

Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of {humans} fills up within them to do evil.

There [is] a vanity that happens on earth: sometimes the righteous suffer what the wicked deserve, and sometimes the wicked receive what the righteous deserve. I said, "This also [is] vanity!"

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and to understand the business that is done on earth--how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep.

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

So all this I laid to my heart, and I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, [are] in the hand of God. So no one knows anything that will [come] to them, whether [it will be] love or hatred.

The same fate [comes] to everyone: to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice. As [with] the good [man], so also to the sinner; [as with] those who swear an oath, so [also] those who fear oaths.

This [is] the {injustice} that is done under the sun: the same fate [comes] to everyone. Also the hearts of {humans} are full [of] evil; delusion [is] in their hearts during their lives, and then they die.

What they loved and hated, as well as what they desired, has already perished. They no longer have any share in what is done under the sun.

Go--eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart! For God already has approved your deeds.

Always be clothed in white garments, and never let your head lack oil!

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which he gives you under the sun, because this [is] your lot in life and in the toil with which you toil under the sun.

Whatever your hand finds to do--do [it] with [all] your might; for in Sheol--where you are going--no one works, plans, knows, or thinks about anything.

For man does not know his time. Just as fish are caught in a cruel net and like birds who are seized in a snare, so also {humans} are ensnared at a cruel time when it falls suddenly upon them.

[There was] a small city with few people in it. A great king came and besieged it, building great siege works against it.

Now, a poor wise man was found in it, and he delivered the city by his wisdom.

The words of the wise are heard in peace [more] than the shouting of a ruler [is heard] among the fools.

Wisdom [is] better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Even when the fool walks along the road, he lacks sense; he tells everyone [that] he is a fool.

There is an evil I have seen under the sun-- [it is] an error that proceeds from a ruler!

The fool is set in many high places, but the rich sit in lowly places.

I have even seen slaves [riding] on horses and princes walking like slaves on the earth!

If the ax is blunt but one does not sharpen its edge, {he must exert more effort}, but the advantage of wisdom [is] it brings success.

The wise man [wins] favor by the words of his mouth, but the fool is devoured by his own lips.

The fool {talks too much}, for no one knows what will be. Who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future}?

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a youth and your princes feast in the morning.