I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.

I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.

I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.

I got men-servants, and maid-servants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance -- herd and flock -- above all who had been before me in Jerusalem.

The whole He hath made beautiful in its season; also, that knowledge He hath put in their heart without which man findeth not out the work that God hath done from the beginning even unto the end.

I said in my heart concerning the matter of the sons of man that God might cleanse them, so as to see that they themselves are beasts.

Surely oppression maketh the wise mad, And a gift destroyeth the heart.

See the work of God, For who is able to make straight that which He made crooked?

In a day of prosperity be in gladness, And in a day of evil consider. Also this over-against that hath God made, To the intent that man doth not find anything after him.

See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they -- they have sought out many devices.

And I said, 'Better is wisdom than might, and the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.' --

Happy art thou, O land, When thy king is a son of freemen, And thy princes do eat in due season, For might, and not for drunkenness.

And further, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, and gave ear, and sought out -- he made right many similes.