The sun rises, and the sun goes down; to its place it hurries, and there it rises again.

The wind goes to the south and goes around to the north; around and around it goes, and on its circuit the wind returns.

All the streams flow to the sea, but the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow.

I applied my mind to seek and to search by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. It [is] a grievous task God has given to {humans}.

{I said to myself}, "Look! I have become great and have increased [in] wisdom more than anyone who {has preceded} me over Jerusalem. {I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge}."

So {I dedicated myself} to learn about wisdom and [to] learn about delusion and folly. However, I discovered that this also [is] chasing wind.

I said {to myself}, "Come! I will test pleasure {to see whether it is worthwhile}." But look, "This also [is] vanity!"

I also {explored} {the effects of indulging my flesh} with wine. My mind guiding me with wisdom, {I investigated} folly so that I might discover what [is] good under heaven for {humans} to do {during the days of their lives}.

I made for myself pools of water from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees.

I also gathered to myself silver and gold--the royal and provincial treasuries. I acquired for myself male and female singers, as well as the delight of {men}, {voluptuous concubines}.

Yet when I considered all the effort which I expended and the toil with which I toiled to do, then behold, "Everything [is] vanity and chasing wind! There is nothing profitable 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?

So I said {to myself}, "{If I also suffer the same fate as the fool}, {what advantage is my great wisdom}?" So I said {to myself}, "This also [is] vanity!"

So I hated life because the work done under the sun [is] grievous to me. For everything [is] vanity and chasing wind!

So I hated all my toil with which I have toiled under the sun, for I must leave it behind to someone who will be after me.

So {I began to despair} of all the toil with which I toiled under the sun.

For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.

There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and {find delight} in his toil. For I also realized that this [is] from the hand of God!

For to the person who [is] good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give [it] to [him who is] pleasing to him. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

a time to bear and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to root up [what is] planted;

a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up;

a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away;

a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak;

a time to love and a time to hate; a time [for] war and a time [for] peace.

I have seen the busyness God gives to {humans} to preoccupy them.

He has made everything suitable in its time. He also has put {the past} in their hearts, yet no one can grasp what God does from the beginning to the end.

So I realized that there is {nothing better} for them than to {rejoice and enjoy themselves} during their lives.

And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, {to enjoy the fruit of all his toil}, this also is a gift of God.

I know everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it, for God so acts that humans might stand in awe before him.

What is--it already was, and what will be--it already is, for {God will do what he has done.}

So I said {to myself}, "God will surely judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time [of judgment] for every deed and every work."

I said to myself concerning {humans}, "God sifts them in order to show them that they are like beasts."

Both go to one place--both came from dust and both return to dust.

For no one knows [whether] the spirit of a human ascends [to heaven] and [whether] the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!

So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy [the fruit of] his labor, for this is his lot in life. {For no one knows what will happen in the future.}

{The fool refuses to work with his hands, so he has nothing to eat except his own skin}!

Better [is] one handful with peace than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. [He laments,] "For whom am I toiling and depriving {myself} of pleasure?" This also [is] vanity--it is an unhappy business!

Two [are] better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil.

For if one falls, his companion may help him up. But pity the one who falls and there is {no one} to help him up.

Also if two lie together, {they can keep each other warm}. But how can one person be warm?

{Although an assailant may overpower one person, two may withstand him}. A threefold cord {is not easily broken}!

A poor but wise youth [is] better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows {how to receive advice}.

For he came out of the prison house to reign, {since he was born poor in his kingdom}.

There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; draw near to listen [rather] than to offer a sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be quick to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you [are] on earth; therefore, let your words be few.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for {he takes no pleasure} in fools. Fulfill what you vow!

Do not let your mouth lead your flesh into sin, and do not tell the messenger that it [was] a mistake. Why anger God at your words, so that he destroys the work of your hands?

Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence or [do not see] justice and righteousness in the province. For one official is watched by a higher official, and [there are] even higher officials over them!

When prosperity increases, those who consume it increase. {So its owner gains nothing, except to see his wealth before it is spent}.

The sleep of the laborer [is] pleasant, whether he eats little or much, but the wealth of the rich man does not allow him to rest.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth {hoarded} by its owner to his harm.

That wealth was lost in a bad venture. Although he has borne a child, {he has nothing to leave to him}.

Look! I have discovered what is good and fitting: to eat and to drink and {to enjoy} all [the fruit of] the toil with which one toils under the sun during the number of the days of his life that God gives to him--for this [is] his lot.

This indeed is a gift of God: everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions, he also empowers him {to enjoy them}, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in [the fruit of] his toil.

God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; yet God does not enable him to enjoy it--instead someone else ends up enjoying it. This [is] vanity--indeed, it [is] a grievous ill!

So do the wise [really] have an advantage over fools? {Can the poor [really] gain anything by knowing how to act in front of others}?

{Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

A good name [is] better than precious ointment, and the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth.

Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for [death is] the end of every person, and the living should take [it] to his heart.

Better to listen to [the] rebuke of [the] wise than for a man to listen to [the] song of fools.

The end of a matter [is] better than its beginning; {better to be slow to anger than hot-headed}.

Do not be quick in your spirit to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For [it is] not from wisdom [that] you ask this.

{For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection}. But knowledge [has] an advantage--wisdom restores life to its possessor.

Consider the work of God. For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?

In the day of prosperity, rejoice! But in the day of adversity, consider! For God made one in place of another so that mortals cannot find out what will happen {in the future}.

Do not be excessively righteous, and do not act excessively wise, lest you destroy yourself.

Do not act excessively wicked, and do not be a fool, lest you die before your time.

[It is] good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other; for whoever fears God will hold both of them secure.

Wisdom gives more strength to the wise than ten rulers who are in the city.

Do not pay attention to everything people say, lest you hear your own servant curse you.

I set my mind to try to seek wisdom and the plan, and to know that wickedness [is] foolishness and that folly [is] delusion.

"Look! I found this," said the Teacher, "while trying to find how the plan fits together.

Keep [the] command of [the] king {because of your oath to God}.

Do not be terrified of his presence! Go at once and do not delay when a matter [is] unpleasant, for he can do anything that he desires.

Since the word of the king [is] supreme, no one can say to him, "What are you doing?"

Just as no one can control the wind to restrain the wind, so also no one can control the day of his death. Just as no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not deliver the wicked.

I saw all this as I applied my heart to all the deeds done under the sun: {sometimes those in authority harm others}.

Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of {humans} fills up within them to do evil.

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and to understand the business that is done on earth--how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep.

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

So all this I laid to my heart, and I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, [are] in the hand of God. So no one knows anything that will [come] to them, whether [it will be] love or hatred.

The same fate [comes] to everyone: to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice. As [with] the good [man], so also to the sinner; [as with] those who swear an oath, so [also] those who fear oaths.

This [is] the {injustice} that is done under the sun: the same fate [comes] to everyone. Also the hearts of {humans} are full [of] evil; delusion [is] in their hearts during their lives, and then they die.

Whoever is joined to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion!

For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything. They no longer have a reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.

Whatever your hand finds to do--do [it] with [all] your might; for in Sheol--where you are going--no one works, plans, knows, or thinks about anything.

I looked again and saw under the sun that the race [does] not [belong] to the swift, the battle [does] not [belong] to the mighty, food [does] not [belong] to the wise, wealth [does] not [belong] to the intelligent, and success [does] not [belong] to the skillful, for time and chance befalls all of them.

I have also seen this [example of] wisdom under the sun, and it [seemed] great to me.

The heart of the wise [inclines] to his right, but the heart of the fool [inclines] to his left.

If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness can undo great offenses.

The fool {talks too much}, for no one knows what will be. Who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future}?

The fool is so worn out by a hard day's work {he cannot even find his way home at night}.

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

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is a son of nobility and your princes feast at the proper time-- to gain strength and not to get drunk.