The sun also arises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to its place where it arose.

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

All things are full of weariness; man cannot express it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this severe burden has God given to the sons of man to be afflicted with.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and like grasping the wind.

I got myself male and female servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle more than all that were in Jerusalem before me:

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one fate happens to them all.

And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart takes not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

For who can eat, or who else can have enjoyment, more than I?

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I said in my heart concerning the condition of the sons of men, that God might reveal them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to 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.

Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.

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

Guard your steps when you go 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.

Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.

Permit not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say before the angel, that it was an error: why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also many vanities: but you fear God.

If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter: for the high official is watched by a higher one; and there are yet higher ones over them.

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

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

But those riches are lost by a bad venture: when he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.

If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also that he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn birth is better than he.

Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better?

Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Say you not, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

Be not overly wicked, neither be foolish: why should you die before your time?

It is good that you should take hold of this; yea, also from this withhold not your hand: for he that fears God shall come forth of them all.

Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men who are in the city.

Also take not to heart all words that are spoken; lest you hear your servant curse you:

For oftentimes also your own heart knows that you yourself likewise have cursed others.

And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are fetters: whosoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

I counsel you to keep the king's commandment, and that for the sake of your oath to God.

Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What are you doing?

There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no release from that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

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

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, who fear before him:

But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he fears not before God.

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are just men, unto whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knows either love or hatred by all that is before 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.

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

Let your garments be always white; and let your head lack no ointment.

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of the life of your vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity: for that is your portion in this life, and in your labor which you perform under the sun.

Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.

For man also knows not his time: as the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.

Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rules among fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroys much good.

If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, leave not your post; for yielding pacifies great offences.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow him up.

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

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

Curse not the king, no not even in your thought; and curse not the rich in your bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.

Cast your bread upon the waters: for you shall find it after many days.

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

In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both alike shall be good.

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

Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them;

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

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 grow dim,

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets:

Before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails firmly fixed by the masters of assemblies, which are given by one shepherd.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.