What the profit to a man in all the labor he will labor under the sun?

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.

That which has been, is that which is to be, and that which has been done, is that which will be done, and there is no new thing under the sun.

Is there a word will be said, See, this is new? This was already to a long time which was before us.

There is no memory of those who have gone before, and of those who come after there will be no memory for those who are still to come after them.

I dedicated myself to using wisdom for study and discovery of everything that is done under heaven. God uses terrible things so human beings will struggle with life.

And I will give my heart to know wisdom, and the knowledge of praise and understanding: I knew this also it is the striving of the spirit

For in abundance of wisdom, abundance of trouble: and he adding knowledge will increase pain.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.

I examined in my heart to draw my flesh with wine, and my heart led in wisdom; and to lay hold upon folly till that I shall see what this good to the sons of man which they will do under the heavens the number of the days of their life.

Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He will do what has already been done.

The wise, his eyes in his head; and the foolish one goes in darkness: and I knew, I also, that one event will meet with them all.

Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then said I in my heart, that this also is vanity.

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!

Hate had I for all my work which I had done, because the man who comes after me will have its fruits.

And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

Because there is a man whose work has been done with wisdom, with knowledge, and with an expert hand; but one who has done nothing for it will have it for his heritage. This again is to no purpose and a great evil.

For what will man have of all his labour and of the striving of his heart, wherewith he hath wearied himself under the sun?

For who will eat or go more lustily to his work than I?

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

I am certain that whatever God does will be for ever. No addition may be made to it, nothing may be taken from it; and God has done it so that man may be in fear before him.

Whatever is, has already been, and whatever will be, already is. God repeats what has passed.

I also examined on earth: where the halls of justice were supposed to be, there was lawlessness; and where the righteous were supposed to be, there was lawlessness. 17I told myself, "God will judge both the righteous and the wicked, because there is a time set to judge every event and every work."

I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all will be turned to dust again.

So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?

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, if two lie close together, they will keep warm, but how can only one stay warm?

If someone attacks one of them, the two of them together will resist. Furthermore, the tri-braided cord is not soon broken.

Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no longer be admonished.

I saw all the living who move about under the sun with the youth; the second who will stand in his place.

There was no end of all the people, of all those whose head he was, but they who come later will have no delight in him. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh for to sin, neither say thou before the angel that it is thy ignorance. For then God will be angry at thy voice, and destroy all the works of thine hands.

If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight [of corruption]; for a higher official watches over another official, and there are higher ones over them [looking out for one another].

The one who loves money will never be satisfied with money, he who loves wealth will never be satisfied with his income. This also is futile.

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

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.

And this again is a great evil, that in all points as he came so will he go; and what profit has he in working for the wind?

Behold, what I saw: good, which is beautiful to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labor that he will labor under the sun the number of the days of his life, which God gave to him; for this his portion.

He will not give much thought to the days of his life; because God lets him be taken up with the joy of his heart.

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.

In wind it came and to the dark it will go, and with the dark will its name be covered.

For what will remain to the wise one more than the foolish one? what to the poor that shall know to go before the living

Whatever is--it was already determined, {what will be--it has already been decided}. As for man, he cannot argue against what is more powerful than him.

Because many words lead to pointlessness, how do people benefit from this? 12Who knows what is best for people in this life, every day of their pointless lives that they pass through like a shadow? Who informs people on earth what will come along after them?

Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

For oppression will make foolish the wise one; and a gift will destroy the heart.

Give thought to the work of God. Who will make straight what he has made bent?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing that will come after him.

Thou shalt not be greatly just; and thou shalt not be exceedingly wise: wherefore wilt thou be made desolate?

Thou shalt not be greatly wicked, and thou shalt not be foolish: wherefore wilt thou die not in thy time?

It is good to take this in your hand and not to keep your hand from that; he who has the fear of God will be free of the two.

Also, do not take seriously all words which are spoken, so that you will not hear your servant cursing you.

All this have I proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

Whatever hath been, is far off, and exceeding deep: who will find it out?

And I saw a thing more bitter than death, even the woman whose heart is full of tricks and nets, and whose hands are as bands. He with whom God is pleased will get free from her, but the sinner will be taken by her.

Who is like the wise man? and to whom is the sense of anything clear? A man's wisdom makes his face shining, and his hard face will be changed.

Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants.

Since the word of the king is authoritative, who will say to him, “What are you doing?”

Whoever keeps the law will come to no evil: and a wise man's heart has knowledge of time and of decision.

For everything will have opportunity and judgment, and this the thing that maketh men full of carefulness and sorrow.

No one is certain what is to be, and who is able to say to him when it will be?

No man has authority over the wind, to keep the wind; or is ruler over the day of his death. In war no man's time is free, and evil will not keep the sinner safe.

And so then I saw the unjust buried, and they came and they will go from the holy place, and they will be forgotten in the city where they did thus: also this is vanity.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his life is long, I am certain that it will be well for those who go in fear of God and are in fear before him.

But it will not be well for the evil-doer; he will not make his days long like a shade, because he has no fear before God.

So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

All this I took to heart, and my heart saw it all: that the upright and the wise and their works are in the hand of God; and men may not be certain if it will be love or hate; all is to no purpose before them.

The living are conscious that death will come to them, but the dead are not conscious of anything, and they no longer have a reward, because there is no memory of them.

Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, the place where you will eventually go.

I turned back, and saw under the sun that not to the fleet the race, and the war not to the strong, and also not to the wise, bread; and also not to the understanding ones, riches; and also not to the knowing, favor; for time and chance will light upon all of them.

For also man knew not his time: as the fishes being laid hold of in an evil net, and as the birds laid hold of in the snare, as they, the sons of men being snared for an evil time, as it will fall upon them suddenly.

Wisdom is good above the instruments of encounter: and one sinning will destroy much good.

Flies of death will cause the oil of the perfume to stink, it will ferment: the preciousness of wisdom above the honor of the least folly.

If the spirit of him ruling shall go up against thee, thou shalt not leave thy place; for quietness will put down great sins.

He who makes a hole for others will himself go into it, and for him who makes a hole through a wall the bite of a snake will be a punishment.

He who gets out stones from the earth will be damaged by them, and in the cutting of wood there is danger.

If the iron became dull and he polished not the face, and he will strengthen the forces: and wisdom will make preeminence to prosper.

Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

The foolish are full of words; man has no knowledge of what will be; and who is able to say what will be after him?

The work of the foolish will be a weariness to him, because he has no knowledge of the way to the town.

Wo! to thee, O land: thy king a youth, and thy chiefs will eat in the morning.

By sloth the frame work will pine away; and by the letting down of the hands, the house will drop.

For laughter they make bread, and wine will gladden the living: and silver will answer with all.

Say not a curse against the king, even in your thoughts; and even secretly say not a curse against the man of wealth; because a bird of the air will take the voice, and that which has wings will give news of it.

Put out your bread on the face of the waters; for after a long time it will come back to you again.

Give a part to seven or even to eight, because you have no knowledge of the evil which will be on the earth.

If the clouds are full of rain, they send it down on the earth; and if a tree comes down to the south, or the north, in whatever place it comes down, there it will be.

He who is watching the wind will not get the seed planted, and he who is looking at the clouds will not get in the grain.

As thou wilt not know what the way of the spirit, as the bones in the womb of her being filled, so thou shalt not know the work of God who will make all.

In the morning put your seed into the earth, and till the evening let not your hand be at rest; because you are not certain which will do well, this or that--or if the two will be equally good.

But even if a man's life is long and he has joy in all his years, let him keep in mind the dark days, because they will be great in number. Whatever may come is to no purpose.

Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Let your mind be turned to your Maker in the days of your strength, while the evil days come not, and the years are far away when you will say, I have no pleasure in them;

when that day comes, the palace guards will tremble, strong men will stoop down, women grinders will cease because they are few, and the sight of those who peer through the lattice will grow dim.

When the doors are shut in the street, and the sound of the crushing is low, and the voice of the bird is soft, and the daughters of music will be made low;