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 turned to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king, when they have already done it?

Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in {future generations}. When [future] days come, both will have been forgotten already. How [is it that] the wise man dies the same as the fool?

When there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and with success; yet to a man who has not labored in it, he shall leave it for his share. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up.

Again, when two sleep together, they are warm: but how can a body be warm alone?

As for the people that have been before him, and that come after him, they are innumerable: yet is not their joy the greater through him. This is also a vain thing and a vexation of mind. (v17) When thou comest into the house of God, keep thy foot and draw nigh, that thou mayest hear: that is better than the offerings of fools, for they know not what evil they do

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil.

Just as dreams come when there are many cares, so the rash vow of a fool occurs when there are many words.

When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou vowest.

Don't be surprised when you see the poor oppressed and the violent perverting both justice and verdicts in a province, for one high official watches another, and there are ones higher still over them.

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, save the beholding of them with his eyes?

But those riches are lost by a bad venture: when he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.

When God giveth a man riches, goods and honour, so that he wanteth nothing of all that his heart can desire, and yet God giveth him not leave to enjoy the same, but another man spendeth them. This is a vain thing and a miserable plague.

For when there are many words, they increase futility. What is the advantage for man?

Sorrow is better than joy; when the face is sad the mind gets better.

For the wise person thinks carefully when in mourning, but fools focus their thoughts on pleasure.

When times are good, be joyful; when times are bad, consider this: God made the one as well as the other, so people won't seek anything outside of his best.

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.

Like as when a king giveth a charge, his commandment is mighty: Even so whom may say unto him, "What doest thou?"

Whoever keeps and observes a royal command will experience neither trouble nor misery;
For a wise heart will know the proper time and [appropriate] procedure.

For, to every pursuit, there is a time and a manner, - when, the vexation of man, is great concerning it.

For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

All this have I seen, and have given my heart to all the work which is done under the sun: there is a time when man has power over man for his destruction.

And, thereupon, I considered the lawless when buried, when they had entered, their graves , that, from the place of the Holy One, they used to go and boast in the city that they had so done, - even this, was vanity.

When a sentence is not executed at once against a crime, the human heart is encouraged to do evil.

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

Go thy way - eat, with gladness, thy food, and drink, with a happy heart, thy wine, - when already God is well pleased with thy works.

For man also knoweth not 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 falleth suddenly upon them.

Yea also, when the fool walketh by the way, his understanding faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

When an iron is blunt, and the point not sharpened, it must be whet again, and that with might. Even so doth wisdom follow diligence.

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

Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

When no work is done the roof goes in, and when the hands do nothing water comes into the house.

When the clouds are full, they empty rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or whether it falls to the north, the place where the tree falls--there it will be.

Just as thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, when the body is in the womb of her that is with child, even, so, canst thou not know the work of God, who maketh all.

If a man live many years, and be glad in them all, let him remember the days of darkness, which shall be many: And when they come, all things shall be but vanity.

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;

Till when the sun shall not be darkened, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, and the clouds turned not back after the rain:

in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows shall be darkened,

and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets:

Till when the cord of silver shall be removed far off, and the bowl of gold be broken, and the bucket shall be broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern.

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity.