The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

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

One generation goes, and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever.

The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually in its course, and the wind returns again to its circuits.

Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten for me great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And, behold, this also was vanity.

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 made for me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.

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.

So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

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.

Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me, and why then was I more wise? Then said I in my heart that this also is vanity.

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.

Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

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?

For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief, yea, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

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.

What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

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.

And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

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.

All go to one place. All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

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?

Keep thy foot when thou go to the house of God, for to draw near to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they know not that they do evil.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few.

When thou vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou vow.

Do not allow thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, nor say thou before the [heavenly] agent, that is was an error. Why should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?

For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words. But fear thou God.

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.

When goods increase, they are increased who eat them. And what advantage is there to the owner of it, except the beholding [of them] with his eyes?

And those riches perish in a bad venture. And if he has begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.

As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.

And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he that he labored for the wind?

All his days also he eats in gloom, and he is greatly troubled, and has depression and anger.

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.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God answers [him] in the joy of his heart.

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.

For it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and the name of it is covered with darkness.

Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it, this [one] has rest rather than the other.

Yea, though he lives a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoys no good, do not all go to one place?

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?

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.

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.

For many times also thine own heart knows that thou thyself likewise have cursed others.

All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.

Behold, I have found this, says the Preacher, [laying] one thing to another, to find out the account,

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.

Be not hasty to go out of his presence. Persist not in an evil matter, for he does whatever pleases 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.

So I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were praised in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.

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.

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.

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is he who sees sleep with his eyes neither day nor night),

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.

As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, has perished long ago, nor have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted thy works.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou love all the days of thy life of vanity, which he has given thee under the sun, all thy days of vanity. For that is thy portion in life, and in thy labor in which thou labor under the sun.

Whatever thy hand finds to do, do with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where thou go.

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.

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.

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth an evil odor, [so] a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

Yea also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone [that] he is a fool.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which proceeds from the ruler:

Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place.

If the serpent bites before it is charmed, then is there no advantage in the charmer.

The labor of fools wearies every one of them, for he knows not how to go to the city.

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy rulers feast in the morning!

Happy are thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy rulers feast in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

By slothfulness the roof sinks in, and through idleness of the hands the house leaks.

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

Revile not the king, no, not in thy thought, and revile not the rich in thy bedchamber. For a bird of the heavens shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be.

As thou know not what is the way of the wind, [nor] how the bones [grow] in the womb of her who is with child, even so thou know not the work of God who does all.

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou know not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

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

Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shall say, I have no pleasure in them,