I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.

When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.

The wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand,

I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied.

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.

I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.

I said to myself, “This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.”

I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?

So I admired the dead, who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive.

But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Better one handful with rest
than two handfuls with effort and a pursuit of the wind.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts.

Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to draw near in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong.

Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?

That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed.

As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he.

Better what the eyes see than wandering desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Whatever exists was given its name long ago, and it is known what man is. But he is not able to contend with the One stronger than he.

For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?

A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth.

It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
since that is the end of all mankind,
and the living should take it to heart.

Grief is better than laughter,
for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.

It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools,

The end of a matter is better than its beginning;
a patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.

Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
since it is not wise of you to ask this.

because wisdom is protection as money is protection,
and the advantage of knowledge
is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.

Wisdom makes the wise man stronger
than ten rulers of a city.

for you know that many times you yourself have cursed others.

I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and seek wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness.

And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

Only see this: I have discovered that God made people upright, but they pursued many schemes.”

All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.

Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him.

There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night),

I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead.

But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.

Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.

Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.

I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me:

Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

The calm words of the wise are heeded
more than the shouts of a ruler over fools.

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

If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge,
then one must exert more strength;
however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.

Indeed, if a man lives many years,
let him rejoice in them all,
and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many.
All that comes is futile.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth.
And walk in the ways of your heart
and in the sight of your eyes;
but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.