Thus I have considered all the things that come to pass under the Sun, and lo, they are all but vanity and vexation of mind.

When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone [do] who will come after the king that has not already been done?

I considered also that whatsoever God doth, it continueth forever, and that nothing can be put unto it, nor taken from it: And that God doth it to the intent that men should fear him.

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.

So I considered those who are dead and gone more fortunate than those who are still alive.

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.

So I again considered another futile thing on earth:

I considered all the living who walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his place.

The whole I have considered in the days of my vanity. There is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wrong-doer prolonging himself in his wrong.

All these things have I considered, and applied my mind unto every work that is under the Sun: how one man hath lordship upon another to his own harm.

And, thereupon, I considered the lawless when buried, when they had entered, their graves , that, from the place of the Holy One, they used to go and boast in the city that they had so done, - even this, was vanity.

then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that hath been done under the sun, because though man labour to seek, yet he doth not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.

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.

I considered and observed on earth the following: The race doesn't go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor food to the wise, nor wealth to the smart, nor recognition to the skilled. Instead, timing and circumstances meet them all.

The Teacher was full of wisdom, and he taught the people with knowledge. He carefully considered many proverbs and carefully arranged them.