I also gathered to myself silver and gold--the royal and provincial treasuries. I acquired for myself male and female singers, as well as the delight of {men}, {voluptuous concubines}.

{The wise man can see where he is walking}, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate.

Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in {future generations}. When [future] days come, both will have been forgotten already. How [is it that] the wise man dies the same as the fool?

For the fate of {humans} and the fate of the beast is {the same}. The death of the one is like the death of the other, for {both are mortal}. Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting.

I also realized that all [of the] toil and all [of] the skillful work that is done--it [is] envy between one man and {another}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. [He laments,] "For whom am I toiling and depriving {myself} of pleasure?" This also [is] vanity--it is an unhappy business!

Whoever loves money is not satisfied [with] money, and whoever loves wealth [is] not [satisfied with] profit. This also [is] vanity!

The sleep of the laborer [is] pleasant, whether he eats little or much, but the wealth of the rich man does not allow him to rest.

God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; yet God does not enable him to enjoy it--instead someone else ends up enjoying it. This [is] vanity--indeed, it [is] a grievous ill!

Even if a man fathers a hundred [children] and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart is not satisfied with {his prosperity} and {he does not receive a proper burial}, I deem the stillborn better than him.

Even if a man lives a thousand years twice, if he does not enjoy {prosperity}, {both suffer the same fate}!

All of a man's toil [is] for his mouth-- yet his appetite is never satisfied.

Whatever is--it was already determined, {what will be--it has already been decided}. As for man, he cannot argue against what is more powerful than him.

For who knows what [is] good for a man in his life during the few days of his fleeting life, which are fleeting as a shadow? For who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future} under the sun?

Better to listen to [the] rebuke of [the] wise than for a man to listen to [the] song of fools.

{For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection}. But knowledge [has] an advantage--wisdom restores life to its possessor.

I have seen all these things in my vain life: Sometimes a righteous man perishes in [spite of] his righteousness, and sometimes a wicked man lives a long life in [spite of] his evil.

What my heart sought, I did not find. Although I found one righteous man among one thousand, I did not find one [upright] woman among all these.

Who [is] like the sage? Who knows [the] interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

For there is a [proper] time and right [procedure] for every matter, even though the trouble of man [weighs] heavy upon him.

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

The same fate [comes] to everyone: to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice. As [with] the good [man], so also to the sinner; [as with] those who swear an oath, so [also] those who fear oaths.

For man does not know his time. Just as fish are caught in a cruel net and like birds who are seized in a snare, so also {humans} are ensnared at a cruel time when it falls suddenly upon them.

Now, a poor wise man was found in it, and he delivered the city by his wisdom.

The wise man [wins] favor by the words of his mouth, but the fool is devoured by his own lips.

{Feasts are held for celebration}, wine cheers the living, and money answers everything.

For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in all of them! Let him remember that the days of the darkness will be many-- all that is coming [is] vanity!

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth! Follow the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes-- but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.

Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars darken and the clouds return after the rain.

When the guards of the house tremble, and the men of strength are bent; the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows see dimly.

They are afraid of heights, and terrors [are] on the road. The almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper draws itself along, and desire fails because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets.

Now that all has been heard, here is the final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commandments, for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.