What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?

Does anything exist about which someone might say, "Look at this! Is this new?" It happened ages ago; it existed before we did.

I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

For neither the wise nor the fool will be long remembered, since in days to come everything will be forgotten. The wise man dies the same way as the fool, does he not?

For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?

Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity.

What profit has the worker in the work which he does?

He has made every thing beautiful in its time: also he has put eternity in men's hearts, so that no man can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end.

I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

For what happens to people also happens to animals a single event happens to them: just as someone dies, so does the other. In fact, they all breathe the same way, so that a human being has no superiority over an animal. All of this is pointless.

The fool folds his hands and does no work, so he has nothing to eat but his own flesh.

There was a certain man—without a dependent, having neither a child nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, his eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, “For whom do I labor and deprive myself of pleasure?” This too is vanity (a wisp of smoke, self-conceit); yes, it is a painful effort and an unhappy task.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn't have another to lift him up.

Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who doesn't know how to receive admonition any more.

When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

When possessions increase, so does the number of consumers; therefore what good are they to their owners, except to look at them?

The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

As he came from his mother at birth, so does he go again; he gets from his work no reward which he may take away in his hand.

This is also a painful tragedy: However a person comes, he also departs; so what does he gain as he labors after the wind?

Look! I observed that it is good and prudent to eat, drink, and enjoy all that is good of a person's work that he does on earth during the limited days of his life, which God gives him, for this is his allotment.

For he does not think much about the fleeting days of his life because God keeps him preoccupied with the joy he derives from his activity.

A man to whom God gives money, wealth, and honour so that he has all his desires but God does not give him the power to have joy of it, and a strange man takes it. This is to no purpose and an evil disease.

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he.

Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things—do not all go to one place?”

For what advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have, knowing how to walk before the living?

The more one argues with words, the less he accomplishes. How does that benefit him?

Never ask "Why does the past seem so much better than now?" because this question does not come from wisdom.

Wisdom keeps a man from danger even as money does; but the value of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owner.

Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

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.

Be not quick to go from before him. Be not fixed in an evil design, because he does whatever is pleasing to him.

For the king's word hath power; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

For no one knows what will happen;
So who can tell him how and when it will happen?

There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his life is long, I am certain that it will be well for those who go in fear of God and are in fear before him.

But it will not be well for the evil man and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.

For I have taken all this to my heart and explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.

It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who is afraid to swear.

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.

Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them.

As dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink, so also does a little foolishness to one's reputation of wisdom and honor.

If the iron has no edge, and he does not make it sharp, then he has to put out more strength; but wisdom makes things go well.

A fool also multiplies words. Man doesn't know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him?

The toil of a fool so wearies him that he does not even know how to go to a city.

Just as you do not know the way and path of the wind or how the bones are formed in the womb of a pregnant woman, even so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.