“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.
“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”

All the streams flow to the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
The streams are flowing to the place,
and they flow there again.

All things are wearisome;
man is unable to speak.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing
or the ear filled with hearing.

What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.

Can one say about anything,
“Look, this is new”?
It has already existed in the ages before us.

There is no remembrance of those who came before;
and of those who will come after
there will also be no remembrance
by those who follow them.

I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

What is crooked cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

For with much wisdom is much sorrow;
as knowledge increases, grief increases.

I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile.

I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?”

I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.

The wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

When there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong.

For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand,

For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:

a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.

It is also the gift of God whenever anyone eats, drinks, and enjoys all his efforts.

I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.

Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. God repeats what has passed.

I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness.

I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.”

For the fate of people and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; they all have the same breath. People have no advantage over animals since everything is futile.

I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?

Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.

But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

There is a person without a companion, without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with riches. “So who am I struggling for,” he asks, “and depriving myself from good?” This too is futile and a miserable task.

And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.

Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.

There is no limit to all the people who were before them, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to draw near in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong.

Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

The profit from the land is taken by all; the king is served by the field.

The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile.

When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes?

The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.

There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

God has also given riches and wealth to every man, and He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. This is a gift of God,

Here is a tragedy I have observed under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity:

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

For he comes in futility and he goes in darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness.

Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he.

All man’s labor is for his stomach,
yet the appetite is never satisfied.

What advantage then does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?

Better what the eyes see than wandering desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Whatever exists was given its name long ago, and it is known what man is. But he is not able to contend with the One stronger than he.

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

For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?

A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth.

It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
since that is the end of all mankind,
and the living should take it to heart.

Grief is better than laughter,
for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.

The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in a house of pleasure.

It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools,

for like the crackling of burning thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of the fool.
This too is futile.

Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool,
and a bribe destroys the mind.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.

Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
since it is not wise of you to ask this.

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance
and an advantage to those who see the sun,

because wisdom is protection as money is protection,
and the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

In my futile life I have seen everything: there is a righteous man who perishes in spite of his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in spite of his evil.

Don’t be excessively righteous, and don’t be overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.

Wisdom makes the wise man stronger
than ten rulers of a city.

There is certainly no righteous man on the earth
who does good and never sins.

I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me.

What exists is beyond reach and very deep. Who can discover it?

I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness.

And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though man’s troubles are heavy on him.

No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.

All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.

In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did so. This too is futile.

Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime.

There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night),

I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.

Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead.

But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.