All the streams flow to the sea, but the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow.

I saw all the works that are done under the sun. Look! Everything [is] vanity and chasing wind.

So {I dedicated myself} to learn about wisdom and [to] learn about delusion and folly. However, I discovered that this also [is] chasing wind.

I said {to myself}, "Come! I will test pleasure {to see whether it is worthwhile}." But look, "This also [is] vanity!"

I also {explored} {the effects of indulging my flesh} with wine. My mind guiding me with wisdom, {I investigated} folly so that I might discover what [is] good under heaven for {humans} to do {during the days of their lives}.

{The wise man can see where he is walking}, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate.

So I said {to myself}, "{If I also suffer the same fate as the fool}, {what advantage is my great wisdom}?" So I said {to myself}, "This also [is] vanity!"

So I hated life because the work done under the sun [is] grievous to me. For everything [is] vanity and chasing wind!

So I hated all my toil with which I have toiled under the sun, for I must leave it behind to someone who will be after me.

So {I began to despair} of all the toil with which I toiled under the sun.

a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to be silent and a time to speak;

So I realized that there is {nothing better} for them than to {rejoice and enjoy themselves} during their lives.

I know everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing can be taken from it, for God so acts that humans might stand in awe before him.

I saw something else under the sun: instead of justice [there was] evil; instead of righteousness [there was] wickedness.

So I said {to myself}, "God will surely judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time [of judgment] for every deed and every work."

So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy [the fruit of] his labor, for this is his lot in life. {For no one knows what will happen in the future.}

I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun. {I saw the tears of the oppressed-- no one comforts them! Those who oppress them are powerful-- no one can comfort them}!

So I deemed the dead who have already died more [fortunate] than the living who are still alive.

{The fool refuses to work with his hands, so he has nothing to eat except his own skin}!

I turned again and saw another vanity under the sun.

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

Do not let your mouth lead your flesh into sin, and do not tell the messenger that it [was] a mistake. Why anger God at your words, so that he destroys the work of your hands?

Do not be surprised if you see the poor being oppressed with violence or [do not see] justice and righteousness in the province. For one official is watched by a higher official, and [there are] even higher officials over them!

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

Just as he came from his mother's womb naked, {he will depart} just as he came; he will take nothing with him for his toil.

This also [is] a grievous illness. Exactly as he came, so he will go. What profit [does] he gain for all his toil for the wind?

God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; yet God does not enable him to enjoy it--instead someone else ends up enjoying it. This [is] vanity--indeed, it [is] a grievous ill!

Even if a man fathers a hundred [children] and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart is not satisfied with {his prosperity} and {he does not receive a proper burial}, I deem the stillborn better than him.

All of a man's toil [is] for his mouth-- yet his appetite is never satisfied.

So do the wise [really] have an advantage over fools? {Can the poor [really] gain anything by knowing how to act in front of others}?

{Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

A good name [is] better than precious ointment, and the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth.

Like the sound of thorns under a pot, so also the laughter of fools. This also [is] vanity!

Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For [it is] not from wisdom [that] you ask this.

In the day of prosperity, rejoice! But in the day of adversity, consider! For God made one in place of another so that mortals cannot find out what will happen {in the future}.

Do not pay attention to everything people say, lest you hear your own servant curse you.

Who [is] like the sage? Who knows [the] interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

Since the word of the king [is] supreme, no one can say to him, "What are you doing?"

Surely no one knows what will be, so who can tell anyone what will happen?

Just as no one can control the wind to restrain the wind, so also no one can control the day of his death. Just as no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not deliver the wicked.

I saw all this as I applied my heart to all the deeds done under the sun: {sometimes those in authority harm others}.

Meanwhile, I saw the wicked being [honorably] buried, but those who came and went from the holy place were forgotten in the city, even though they had done so. This also [is] vanity!

But it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not prolong [their] days, like the shadow; because there is no fearing {God's presence}.

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and to understand the business that is done on earth--how neither day nor night one's eyes see sleep.

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

So all this I laid to my heart, and I concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, [are] in the hand of God. So no one knows anything that will [come] to them, whether [it will be] love or hatred.

The same fate [comes] to everyone: to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice. As [with] the good [man], so also to the sinner; [as with] those who swear an oath, so [also] those who fear oaths.

I looked again and saw under the sun that the race [does] not [belong] to the swift, the battle [does] not [belong] to the mighty, food [does] not [belong] to the wise, wealth [does] not [belong] to the intelligent, and success [does] not [belong] to the skillful, for time and chance befalls all of them.

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.

So I concluded that wisdom [is] better than might, yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.

Dead flies cause a bad smell [and] ruin the ointment of the perfumer. So also a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

The fool is so worn out by a hard day's work {he cannot even find his way home at night}.

Whoever watches the wind will not sow; whoever watches the clouds will not reap.

Just as you do not know how the path of the wind [goes], nor how the bones [of a fetus] form in a mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Sow your seed in the morning, and do not let your hands rest in the evening, for you do not know what will prosper-- whether this or that, or whether both of them alike will succeed.

The light is sweet, and it [is] pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

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.