Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone [do] who will come after the king that has not already been done?

For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.

All his days [are] painful, his labor [brings] grief, and his heart cannot rest at night. This also [is] vanity!

But better [off] than both of them is the one who has not yet been born and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

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!

{Although an assailant may overpower one person, two may withstand him}. A threefold cord {is not easily broken}!

There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; draw near to listen [rather] than to offer a sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be quick to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you [are] on earth; therefore, let your words be few.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for {he takes no pleasure} in fools. Fulfill what you vow!

It is better that you not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

Do not let your mouth lead your flesh into sin, and do not tell the messenger that it [was] a mistake. Why anger God at your words, so that he destroys the work of your hands?

Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence or [do not see] justice and righteousness in the province. For one official is watched by a higher official, and [there are] even higher officials over them!

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.

For he does not remember the [brief] days of his life, for God keeps his heart preoccupied with enjoyment [of life].

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}!

Do not be quick in your spirit to anger, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.

Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For [it is] not from wisdom [that] you ask this.

Do not be excessively righteous, and do not act excessively wise, lest you destroy yourself.

Do not act excessively wicked, and do not be a fool, lest you die before your time.

[It is] good to take hold of the one and also must not let go of the other; for whoever fears God will hold both of them secure.

Do not pay attention to everything people say, lest you hear your own servant curse you.

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.

Do not be terrified of his presence! Go at once and do not delay when a matter [is] unpleasant, for he can do anything that he desires.

Whoever obeys [his] command will not suffer disaster. The wise mind knows the [proper] time and the right [procedure].

Just as no one can control the wind to restrain the wind, so also no one can control the day of his death. Just as no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not deliver the wicked.

Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of {humans} fills up within them to do evil.

But it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not prolong [their] days, like the shadow; because there is no fearing {God's presence}.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and to understand the business that is done on earth--how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep.

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 the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything. They no longer have a reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.

I looked again and saw under the sun that the race [does] not [belong] to the swift, the battle [does] not [belong] to the mighty, food [does] not [belong] to the wise, wealth [does] not [belong] to the intelligent, and success [does] not [belong] to the skillful, for time and chance befalls all of them.

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.

So I concluded that wisdom [is] better than might, yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.

If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness can undo great offenses.

If the ax is blunt but one does not sharpen its edge, {he must exert more effort}, but the advantage of wisdom [is] it brings success.

If the snake bites before the charming, {the snake charmer will not succeed}.

The fool is so worn out by a hard day's work {he cannot even find his way home at night}.

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is a son of nobility and your princes feast at the proper time-- to gain strength and not to get drunk.

Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse the rich even in your own bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry your voice; a winged messenger may repeat your words.

Divide your share in seven or in eight, for you do not know what disaster will happen on the earth.

Whoever watches the wind will not sow; whoever watches the clouds will not reap.

Just as you do not know how the path of the wind [goes], nor how the bones [of a fetus] form in a mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Sow your seed in the morning, and do not let your hands rest in the evening, for you do not know what will prosper-- whether this or that, or whether both of them alike will succeed.