The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there any thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time, which was before us.

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.

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.

For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how does the wise man die? as the fool.

Yea, I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun: because I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

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.

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

I have seen the task, which God has given to the sons of men to be occupied in it.

I know that, whatsoever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God does it, that men should fear before him.

That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.

Therefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his lot: for who can bring him to see what shall be after him?

Again, I considered all toil, and every skillful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and grasping after the wind.

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

Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no longer be admonished.

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.

For a dream comes through much business; and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words.

When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed.

Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.

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?

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.

He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance, with increase: this is also vanity.

There is a great evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by their owners to their hurt.

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

For he comes in with vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

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

Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing that will come after him.

Be not overly righteous; neither make yourself overly wise: why should you destroy yourself?

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

All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

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.

Be not hasty to go out of his presence: stand not for an evil thing; for he does whatsoever pleases him.

For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

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.

Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.

Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover; though a wise man thinks to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

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.

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

Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

Yea also, when he that is a fool walks by the way, his wisdom fails him, and he says to every one that he is a fool.

Whosoever quarries stones may be hurt by them; and he that splits wood shall be endangered by it.

A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

By much slothfulness the building decays; and through idleness of the hands the house leaks.

Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for you know not what evil shall be upon the earth.

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.

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

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,

And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

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:

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

And further, my son, be admonished by these: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

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