I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

I spoke within my own heart, saying, Lo, I have become great and have gathered more wisdom than all that have been before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart has seen much of wisdom and knowledge.

And I turned to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king, when they have already done it?

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

What profit does he have who works in that in which he labors?

I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men to be humbled by it.

For that which happens to the sons of men also happens to beasts, even one thing happens to them. As this one dies, so that one dies; yea, they all have one breath; so that a man has no advantage over a beast; for all is vanity.

Therefore I have seen that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion; for who can bring him to see what shall be after him?

And I commended the dead who already have died, more than the living who are living now.

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 who is alone when he falls, for he does not have another to help him.

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

There is no end of all the people, of all who have been before them; they also who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

When you vow a vow to God, do not wait to pay it. For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you have vowed.

There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for their owners to their hurt.

And this also is a sore evil, that in all, as he came, so shall he go; and what profit does he have who has labored for the wind?

Behold that which I have seen. it is good and right for one to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labor that he labors under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him; for it is his portion.

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

For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

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

For also your own heart knows that you yourself have also cursed others many times.

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

Behold, this I have found, says the Preacher, counting one by one, to find out the sum,

which my soul still sought, but I find not: one man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all those I have not found.

Lo, this only I have found, that God has made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions.

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

For the living know that they shall die; but the dead do not know anything, nor do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; nor do they any longer have a part forever in all that is done under the sun.

This wisdom I have seen also under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like a sin which comes from a ruler's presence;

I have seen servants on horses and princes walking as servants on the earth.

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days do not come, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them.