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.

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 everything there is a season, and a time for very purpose under heaven:

I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous man and the wicked man, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches [were] kept by the owner of it to his hurt.

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?

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

A man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.

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.

All this I have seen in my days of vanity. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs [his life] in his evil-doing.

Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers that are in a city.

Who is as the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

For to every purpose there is a time and decision, although the distress of man is great upon him.

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.

But it shall not be well with a wicked man, neither shall he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow, because he did not fear before God.

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked, again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.

A wise man's heart is at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left.

Yea also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone [that] he is a fool.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which proceeds from the ruler:

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy rulers feast in the morning!

And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.