What profit has man from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

That which has been is that which shall be, and that which has been done is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. It is a great tribulation that God has given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten for me great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

And I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly. For what [can] the man [do] who comes after the king? [Even] that which has been done long ago.

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

For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart in which he labors under the sun?

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

I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men to be employed therewith.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God has done it that men should fear before him.

That which is, has been long ago, and that which is to be, has long ago been. And God seeks again that which has passed away.

For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts, even one thing befalls them; as the one dies, so dies the other. Yea, they all have one breath, and man has no preeminence above the beasts; for all is vanity.

When thou vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou vow.

And those riches perish in a bad venture. And if he has begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.

And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he that he labored for the wind?

All his days also he eats in gloom, and he is greatly troubled, and has depression and anger.

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be fitting is [for a man] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor in which he labors under the sun all the days of his life which God has given him, for this is his p

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

If a man begets a hundred sons, and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it, this [one] has rest rather than the other.

For what advantage has the wise man more than the fool? What has the poor man, who knows how to walk before the living?

Whatever has been, the name of it was given long ago, and it is know what man is. Neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.

For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense. But the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

Consider the work of God. For who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider. Yea, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

For the king's word [has] power, and who may say to him, What are thou doing?

There is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, nor has he power over the day of death. And there is no discharge in war. Neither shall wickedness deliver him who is given to it.

All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun. [There is] a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.

Then I commended joy, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be cheerful. For that shall abide with him in his labor [all] the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, has perished long ago, nor have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted thy works.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou love all the days of thy life of vanity, which he has given thee under the sun, all thy days of vanity. For that is thy portion in life, and in thy labor in which thou labor under the sun.

Revile not the king, no, not in thy thought, and revile not the rich in thy bedchamber. For a bird of the heavens shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.

[This is] the end of the matter, all has been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.