“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us.

And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.

There is one man, no more but himself alone, having neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of his careful travail, his eyes cannot be satisfied with riches. Yet, doth he not remember himself, and say, "For whom do I take such travail? For whose pleasure do I thus consume away my life?" This is also a vain and miserable thing.

Be not unwise with your mouth, and let not your heart be quick to say anything before God, because God is in heaven and you are on the earth--so let not the number of your words be great.

Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry on account of your voice and destroy the work of your hands?

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?

Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

Do not give ear to all the words which men say, for fear of hearing the curses of your servant.

“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation,

I say to you, Keep the king's law, from respect for the oath of God.

The word of a king has authority; and who may say to him, What is this you are doing?

No one is certain what is to be, and who is able to say to him when it will be?

There is a thing which is to no purpose done on the earth: that there are good men to whom is given the same punishment as those who are evil, and there are evil men who get the reward of the good. I say that this again is to no purpose.

and I saw every work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work which has been done under the sun. Even though man should seek laboriously, he will not discover; and though the wise man should say, “I know,” he cannot discover.

And why? As long as a man liveth, he is careless: for a quick dog, say they, is better than a dead lion.

But I say that wisdom is better than strength, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heeded.

Even when a fool walks along the road, his [common] sense and good judgment fail him and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool.

The foolish are full of words; man has no knowledge of what will be; and who is able to say what will be after him?

Say not a curse against the king, even in your thoughts; and even secretly say not a curse against the man of wealth; because a bird of the air will take the voice, and that which has wings will give news of it.

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

All things are to no purpose, says the Preacher, all is to no purpose.