What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth?

For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

A time to take stones away and a time to get stones together; a time for kissing and a time to keep from kissing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good as long as they live;

If they stumble, the first will lift up his friend but woe to anyone who is alone when he falls and there is no one to help him get up.

When someone's prosperity increases, those who consume it also increase; so what does its owner gain, except that he gets to see it with his eyes?

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.

Sorrow is better than joy; when the face is sad the mind gets better.

Do not be excessively righteous [like those given to self-conceit], and do not be overly wise (pretentious)—why should you bring yourself to ruin?

And I saw a thing more bitter than death, even the woman whose heart is full of tricks and nets, and whose hands are as bands. He with whom God is pleased will get free from her, but the sinner will be taken by her.

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

Do not be in a hurry to get out of his presence. Do not join in a malevolent matter, for the king will do whatever he pleases.

There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

If your overseer gets angry at you, don't resign, because calmness pacifies great offenses.

He who gets out stones from the earth will be damaged by them, and in the cutting of wood there is danger.

The labor of a fool so wearies him [because he is ignorant] that he does not even know how to go to a city.

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.

Send your grain overseas, for after many days you will get a return.

He who is watching the wind will not get the seed planted, and he who is looking at the clouds will not get in the grain.