And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. It is a great tribulation that God has given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine (my heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom), and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of th

I also gathered for me silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of men, [and] a wife and wives.

There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

For to the man who pleases him [God] gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men to be employed therewith.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live.

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor. [It] is the gift of God.

I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God has done it that men should fear before him.

That which is, has been long ago, and that which is to be, has long ago been. And God seeks again that which has passed away.

I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous man and the wicked man, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are beasts.

Keep thy foot when thou go to the house of God, for to draw near to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they know not that they do evil.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few.

When thou vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou vow.

Do not allow thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, nor say thou before the [heavenly] agent, that is was an error. Why should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?

For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words. But fear thou God.

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be fitting is [for a man] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor in which he labors under the sun all the days of his life which God has given him, for this is his p

Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God answers [him] in the joy of his heart.

A man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

If a man begets a hundred sons, and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

Yea, though he lives a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoys no good, do not all go to one place?

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

A [good] name is better than precious oil, and the day of death, than the day of birth.

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.

Consider the work of God. For who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider. Yea, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

It is good that thou should take hold of this, yea, also from that withdraw not thy hand. For he who fears God shall come forth from them all.

Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good, and sins not.

And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, [and] whose hands are chains. He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her.

Behold, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many contrivances.

I [say], Keep the king's command, and that because of the oath of God.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and prolongs his [days], yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before him.

But it shall not be well with a wicked man, neither shall he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow, because he did not fear before God.

Then I commended joy, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be cheerful. For that shall abide with him in his labor [all] the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. Because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea moreover, though a wise man thinks to know it, yet he

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God. No man understands, either love or hatred. All is before them.

All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous man and to the wicked man, to the good man and to the clean man and to the unclean man, to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice, as is the good man,

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted thy works.

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

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

As thou know not what is the way of the wind, [nor] how the bones [grow] in the womb of her who is with child, even so thou know not the work of God who does all.

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

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 thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgmen

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

[This is] the end of the matter, all has been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.

For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.