Yet when I considered all the effort which I expended and the toil with which I toiled to do, then behold, "Everything [is] vanity and chasing wind! There is nothing profitable under the sun!"

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?

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; draw near to listen [rather] than to offer a sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for {he takes no pleasure} in fools. Fulfill what you vow!

When prosperity increases, those who consume it increase. {So its owner gains nothing, except to see his wealth before it is spent}.

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.

For man does not know his time. Just as fish are caught in a cruel net and like birds who are seized in a snare, so also {humans} are ensnared at a cruel time when it falls suddenly upon them.

Even when the fool walks along the road, he lacks sense; he tells everyone [that] he is a fool.

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

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is a son of nobility and your princes feast at the proper time-- to gain strength and not to get drunk.

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.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth-- before the days of trouble come and the years draw near when you will say, "I find no pleasure in them!"

When the guards of the house tremble, and the men of strength are bent; the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows see dimly.

When the doors on the street are shut, when the sound of the grinding mill is low; one rises up to the sound of the bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low.