I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

I said to myself, "Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity.

Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.

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, and doesn't have another to lift him up.

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

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one 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 portion.

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

All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

for often your own heart knows that you yourself have likewise cursed others.

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

"Behold, I have found this," says the Preacher, "one to another, to find out the scheme;

which my soul still seeks; but I have not found. One man among a thousand have I found; but I have not found a woman among all those.

Behold, this only have I found: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes."

There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.

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

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

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

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler.

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

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them;"