The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but the earth abides forever.

I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have come to greatness, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men, which they should do under heaven all the days of their life.

I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them with all kind of fruit:

I got myself male and female servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle more than all that were in Jerusalem before me:

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

And whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my reward of all my labor.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had made, and on the labor that I had expended on it: and, behold, all was vanity and like grasping the wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one fate happens to them all.

Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how does the wise man die? as the fool.

Yea, I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun: because I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

Therefore I gave my heart up to despair of all the labor in which I toiled under the sun.

For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that has not labored in it shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart takes not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

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

For God gives to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping up, only that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping of the wind.

What profit has he that works in that in which he labors?

I have seen the task, which God has given to the sons of men to be occupied in it.

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 there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

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

I said in my heart concerning the condition of the sons of men, that God might reveal them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; the same thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man has no advantage over a beast: for all is vanity.

All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Therefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his lot: for who can bring him to see what shall be after 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.

The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh.

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he has neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labor; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither says he, For whom do I labor, and deprive my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a heavy travail.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up.

Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no longer be admonished.

For out of prison he comes to reign; yet he that is born in his kingdom might become poor.

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

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after him shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and grasping after the wind.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.

When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed.

Permit not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say before the angel, that it was an error: why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also many vanities: but you fear God.

If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter: for the high official is watched by a higher one; and there are yet higher ones over them.

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: so what good is there to the owners, except the beholding of them with their eyes?

But those riches are lost by a bad venture: when he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.

As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing from his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.

All his days also he eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

Behold that which I have seen: it is good and fitting for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he takes under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for this is his lot.

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

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:

A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him not power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

For he comes in with vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

Moreover he has not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this one has more rest than the other.

Yea, though he lives a thousand years twice over, yet he has seen no good: do not all go to one place?

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

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

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing that will come after him.

All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness.

Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men who are in the city.

For oftentimes also your own heart knows that you yourself likewise have cursed others.

Behold, this have I found, says the preacher, adding one thing to another, to find out the reason:

Which yet my soul seeks, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.

Be not hasty to go out of his presence: stand not for an evil thing; for he does whatsoever pleases him.

For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no release from that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is one who neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes:)

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.

All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrifices, and to him that sacrifices not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that swears, as he that fears an oath.

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun.

Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God now accepts your works.

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of the life of your vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity: for that is your portion in this life, and in your labor which you perform under the sun.

Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.

For man also knows not his time: as the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.

Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rules among fools.

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

Yea also, when he that is a fool walks by the way, his wisdom fails him, and he says to every one that he is a fool.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceeds from the ruler:

Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.

If the iron is blunt, and he does not sharpen the edge, then must he use more strength: but wisdom helps one to succeed.

The labor of the foolish wearies every one of them, because he knows not how to go to the city.

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

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry: but money answers all things.

Curse not the king, no not even in your thought; and curse not the rich in your bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.

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