What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.

There is no remembrance of those who came before;
and of those who will come after
there will also be no remembrance
by those who follow them.

I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile.

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.

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.

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

I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work.”

I have seen that there is nothing better than for a person to enjoy his activities because that is his reward. For who can enable him to see what will happen after he dies?

There is no limit to all the people who were before them, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

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.

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

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.

For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.

I have tested all this by wisdom. I resolved, “I will be wise,” but it was beyond me.

And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

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

The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen?

No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.

Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him.

However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.

So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.

Yet the fool multiplies words.
No one knows what will happen,
and who can tell anyone what will happen after him?

If the clouds are full, they will pour out rain on the earth;
whether a tree falls to the south or the north,
the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.

One who watches the wind will not sow,
and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap.

In the morning sow your seed,
and at evening do not let your hand rest,
because you don’t know which will succeed,
whether one or the other,
or if both of them will be equally good.

Indeed, if a man lives many years,
let him rejoice in them all,
and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many.
All that comes is futile.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth.
And walk in the ways of your heart
and in the sight of your eyes;
but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.

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”;

Also, they are afraid of heights and dangers on the road;
the almond tree blossoms,
the grasshopper loses its spring,
and the caper berry has no effect;
for man is headed to his eternal home,
and mourners will walk around in the street;

For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.