Said, I, in my heart, Come now! I will prove thee with gladness, and look thou on blessedness, - but lo! even that, was vanity.

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.

So I saw, that there was nothing better than that a man should be glad in his works, for, that, is his portion, - for who can bring him in, to look upon that which shall be after him?

A man to whom God giveth riches and gains and honour, so that nothing doth he lack for his soul - of all that he craveth, and yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but, a man unknown, eateth it, - this, was vanity, and, an incurable evil, it was.

For who knoweth what is good for a man throughout his life, for the number of the days of his life of vanity, seeing he will make them, like a shadow, - for who can tell a man, what shall be after him, under the sun?

but, well, shall it not be to the lawless man, neither shall he lengthen out his days like a shadow, - because he standeth not in awe before God.

Every one, was like every one else, one destiny, had the righteous and the lawless, the good and the pure and the impure, and he that sacrificed, and he that did not sacrifice, - as the good man, so, the sinner, he that took an oath, as he who, of an oath, stood in fear.

For, indeed, man could not know his own time, like fishes which were caught in a cruel net, and like little birds which were caught in a trap, - like them, were ensnared the sons of men, by a time of misfortune, when it fell upon them suddenly.

I had seen, servants, upon horses, - and, rulers, walking like servants, on the ground.

By two lazy arms, the framework sinketh in, - and, by the hanging down of the hands, the house may leak.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the men of might bow themselves, - and the grinders cease because they are few, and they who look through the windows are darkened;