What profit has man from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

All things are full of weariness, man cannot utter [it]. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

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.

I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine (my heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom), and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of th

I bought men-servants and maid-servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem.

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.

And I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly. For what [can] the man [do] who comes after the king? [Even] that which has been done long ago.

The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

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!

And I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who shall be after me.

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

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 what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart in which he labors under the sun?

There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

For to the man who pleases him [God] gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men to be employed therewith.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor. [It] is the gift of God.

I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God has done it that men should fear before him.

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.

I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are beasts.

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.

Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?

Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him [back] to see what shall be after him?

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.

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the fullness of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be fitting is [for a man] 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 p

Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God.

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.

If a man begets a hundred sons, and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

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

Whatever has been, the name of it was given long ago, and it is know what man is. Neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.

Since there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?

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 go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.

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

Surely oppression makes the wise man foolish, and a bribe destroys the understanding.

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.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider. Yea, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

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.

Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good, and sins not.

which my soul still seeks, but I have not found: among a thousand I have found one man, but among all those I have not found a woman.

Behold, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many contrivances.

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.

He who keeps a commandment shall know no evil thing. And a wise man's heart discerns the time and decision.

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

There is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, nor has he power over the day of death. And there is no discharge in war. Neither shall wickedness deliver him who is given to it.

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.

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

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

Then I commended joy, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be cheerful. For that shall abide with him in his labor [all] the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

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

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God. No man understands, either love or hatred. All is before them.

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,

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.

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.

There was a little city, and few men within it. And there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

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.

Then I said, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

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

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow himself up.

A fool also multiplies words; [yet] man knows not what shall be, and that which shall be after him, who can tell him?

A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes glad the life, and money answers all things.

Yea, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgmen

before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain,

in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows shall be darkened,

yea, they shall be afraid of height, and terrors [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go

[This is] the end of the matter, all has been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man.