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.

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.

When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes?

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

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

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

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.

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),

Even when the fool walks along the road, his heart lacks sense,
and he shows everyone he is a fool.

Woe to you, land, when your king is a youth
and your princes feast in the morning.

Blessed are you, land, when your king is a son of nobles
and your princes feast at the proper time—
for strength and not for drunkenness.

So remember your Creator in the days of your youth:

Before the days of adversity come,
and the years approach when you will say,
“I have no delight in them”;

on the day when the guardians of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
the women who grind cease because they are few,
and the ones who watch through the windows see dimly,

the doors at the street are shut
while the sound of the mill fades;
when one rises at the sound of a bird,
and all the daughters of song grow faint.

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