I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have become great and have acquired wisdom more than all they that have been before me over Jerusalem; and my heart hath seen much of wisdom and knowledge.

And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour at which I have laboured, and wherein I have been wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

For what will man have of all his labour and of the striving of his heart, wherewith he hath wearied himself under the sun?

I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of men to toil in.

For what befalleth the children of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other, and they have all one breath; and man hath no pre-eminence above the beast: for all is vanity.

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

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

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

The sleep of the labourer is sweet, whether he have eaten little or much; but the fulness of the rich doth not suffer him to sleep.

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt;

or those riches perish by some evil circumstance, and if he have begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.

Behold what I have seen good and comely: it is to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labour wherewith man laboureth under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for that is his portion.

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

If a man beget a hundred sons, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and also he have no burial, I say an untimely birth is better than he.

All this have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth by his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his days by his wickedness.

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

See this which I have found, saith the Preacher, searching one by one to find out the reason;

which my soul yet seeketh, and I have not found: one man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found.

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

All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when man ruleth man to his hurt.

And I have also seen the wicked buried and going away; and such as had acted rightly went from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city. This also is vanity.

This is an evil among all that is done under the sun, that one thing befalleth all: yea, also the heart of the children of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live; and after that, they have to go to the dead.

For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.

Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy is already perished; neither have they any more for ever a portion in all that is done under the sun.

This also have I seen as wisdom under the sun, and it was great unto me.

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

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

And remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, of which thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;