I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where is this -- the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.

I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.

a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;

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

What advantage hath the doer in that which he is labouring at?

And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors is power, and they have no comforter.

If someone attacks one of them, the two of them together will resist. Furthermore, the tri-braided cord is not soon broken.

As for the people that have been before him, and that come after him, they are innumerable: yet is not their joy the greater through him. This is also a vain thing and a vexation of mind. (v17) When thou comest into the house of God, keep thy foot and draw nigh, that thou mayest hear: that is better than the offerings of fools, for they know not what evil they do

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil.

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.

Wisdom strengthens the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

Whatever has been is far off, deeply remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it [for it is beyond the grasp of man]?

I turned around and directed my heart to know, to investigate and to seek [skillful and godly] wisdom and the reason for things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness [leading to stupidity and recklessness].

Look! this I have seen, said the Preacher, taking one thing after another to get the true account,

which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman.

But it will not be well for the evil-doer; he will not make his days long like a shade, because he has no fear before God.

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

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true.