Spake, I, in my heart, saying, As for me, lo! I have become great, and have gathered wisdom, beyond any one who hath been before me over Jerusalem, - and, my heart, hath seen much wisdom and knowledge:

yea I have given my heart, to know wisdom, and to know madness, and folly, - I know that, even this, is a feeding on wind.

Thus turned, I, to look at wisdom, and madness and folly, - for what can the man do more who cometh after the king? save that which, already, men have done.

That which was, already, had been, and, that which shall be, already, shall have been, - but, God, seeketh that which hath been chased away.

For, as regardeth the destiny of the sons of men and the destiny of beasts, one fate, have they, as dieth the one, so, dieth the other, and, one spirit, have they all, - and, the pre-eminence of man over beast, is nothing, for, all, were vanity:

Then again, I, considered all the oppressive deeds which were done under the sun, - and lo! the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter, and, on the side of their oppressing, is power, and they have no comforter.

Better are two, than one, - in that they have a good reward for their toil.

Moreover, if two lie together, then have they warmth, - but how can, one, have warmth?

Even this, moreover, is an incurable evil, altogether as he came, so, shall he depart, - what profit then shall he have who toileth for the wind?

Lo! what, I myself, have seen - Better that it should be excellent to eat and to drink and to see blessedness, in all one's toil wherein one toileth under the sun, for the number of the days of his life, in that God hath given it him, for, that, is his portion:

Though a man should beget a hundred children, and live, many years, so that many should be the days of his years but, his own soul, should not be satisfied with the good, and he should not even have, a burial, I said, Better than he, is an untimely birth!

All this, have I proved by wisdom, - I said, I will be wise, but, that, was far from me.

See! this, have I found, saith the Proclaimer counting one by one, to find a conclusion;

what my soul still sought, yet I found not, - one man out of a thousand, have I found, but, a woman among all these, have I not found.

Only, see, this, have I found, That God made man upright, but, they, have sought out many devices.

If, the spirit of a ruler, riseth up against thee, thy place, do not leave, for gentleness, pacifieth such as have greatly erred.

Yet remember thy Creator, in the days of thy vigour, - or ever come in, the days of discomfort, and the years arrive, in which thou shalt say - I have, in them, no pleasure;