What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth?

All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full, and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again.

No one remembers the former events, nor will anyone remember the events that are yet to happen; they will not be remembered by the future generations.

I have concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they live,

I also thought to myself, "It is for the sake of people, so God can clearly show them that they are like animals.

Two people are better than one, because they can reap more benefit from their labor.

For if they fall, one will help his companion up, but pity the person who falls down and has no one to help him up.

Furthermore, if two lie down together, they can keep each other warm, but how can one person keep warm by himself?

Be careful what you do when you go to the temple of God; draw near to listen rather than to offer a sacrifice like fools, for they do not realize that they are doing wrong.

For no one knows what is best for a person during his life -- during the few days of his fleeting life -- for they pass away like a shadow. Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth.

This alone have I discovered: God made humankind upright, but they have sought many evil schemes.

Not only that, but I have seen the wicked approaching and entering the temple, and as they left the holy temple, they boasted in the city that they had done so. This also is an enigma.

Even though a sinner might commit a hundred crimes and still live a long time, yet I know that it will go well with God-fearing people -- for they stand in fear before him.

But it will not go well with the wicked, nor will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.

This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth: the same fate awaits everyone. In addition to this, the hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is folly in their hearts during their lives -- then they die.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward -- and even the memory of them disappears.

What they loved, as well as what they hated and envied, perished long ago, and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth.

If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth, and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls.

when those who keep watch over the house begin to tremble, and the virile men begin to stoop over, and the grinders begin to cease because they grow few, and those who look through the windows grow dim,

and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street; the almond blossoms grow white, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry shrivels up -- because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets --

The words of the sages are like prods, and the collected sayings are like firmly fixed nails; they are given by one shepherd.