All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous man and to the wicked man, to the good man and to the clean man and to the unclean man, to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice, as is the good man,

If thou see the oppression of a poor man, and the violent wresting of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter. For [a man] higher than the high is observing, and there are higher [men] than they.

then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. Because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea moreover, though a wise man thinks to know it, yet he

Now there was found in it a poor wise man. And he by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man.

I also gathered for me silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of men, [and] a wife and wives.

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance forever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how the wise man dies even as the fool!

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.

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.

For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts, even one thing befalls them; as the one dies, so dies the other. Yea, they all have one breath, and man has no preeminence above the beasts; for all is vanity.

For what advantage has the wise man more than the fool? What has the poor man, who knows how to walk before the living?

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?

It is better to hear the rebuke of a wise man, than for a man to hear the song of fools.

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.

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.

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

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happens t

For man also does not know his time. As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them.