She considers a field and buys it, from the fruit of {her hand} she plants a vineyard.

Her hands she puts onto the distaff, and her palms hold a spindle.

"Many daughters have done excellence, but {you surpass} all of them."

Charm [is] deceit and beauty [is] vain; [but] a woman who fears Yahweh shall be praised.

What does a person gain in all his toil with which he toils under the sun?

A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever.

All things toil continuously; no one can ever finish describing this. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, and the ear is never filled with hearing.

There is a thing [of] which it is said, "Look at this! This is new!" [But] it already existed in ages past before us.

I, the Teacher, [was] king over Israel in Jerusalem.

I applied my mind to seek and to search by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. It [is] a grievous task God has given to {humans}.

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

{I said to myself}, "Look! I have become great and have increased [in] wisdom more than anyone who {has preceded} me over Jerusalem. {I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge}."

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 said of laughter, "[It is] folly!" and of pleasure, "{What does it accomplish?}"

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}.

{I accomplished great things}. I built for myself houses; I planted for myself vineyards.

I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted all [sorts of] fruit trees in them.

I made for myself pools of water from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees.

I acquired male slaves and female slaves, as well as children [born in my] house. I also had livestock, cattle, and flocks more than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem.

I also gathered to myself silver and gold--the royal and provincial treasuries. I acquired for myself male and female singers, as well as the delight of {men}, {voluptuous concubines}.

Thus, {I accomplished far more} than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem--indeed, my wisdom stood by me.

I neither withheld anything from my eyes that they desired, nor did I deprive any pleasure from my heart. My heart rejoiced in all my toil, for this was my reward from all my toil.

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!"

Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone [do] who will come after the king that has not already been done?

I realized that wisdom has an advantage over folly, just as light has an advantage over darkness.

{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.

And who knows [whether] he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all [the fruit of] my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also [is] vanity!

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

For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.

For what does a person receive for all his toil and in the longing of his heart with which he toils under the sun?

There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and {find delight} in his toil. For I also realized that this [is] from the hand of God!

For who can eat [and drink], and who can enjoy [life] apart from him?

For to the person who [is] good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give [it] to [him who is] pleasing to him. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

For everything there [is] an appointed time, a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to bear and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to root up [what is] planted;

a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up;

a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away;

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

a time to love and a time to hate; a time [for] war and a time [for] peace.

I have seen the busyness God gives to {humans} to preoccupy them.

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

And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, {to enjoy the fruit of all his toil}, this also is a gift of God.

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."

I said to myself concerning {humans}, "God sifts them in order to show them that they are like beasts."

For no one knows [whether] the spirit of a human ascends [to heaven] and [whether] the spirit of the beast descends to the ground!

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.

But better [off] than both of them is the one who has not yet been born and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

I also realized that all [of the] toil and all [of] the skillful work that is done--it [is] envy between one man and {another}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

I turned again and saw another vanity under the sun.

Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. [He laments,] "For whom am I toiling and depriving {myself} of pleasure?" This also [is] vanity--it is an unhappy business!

Two [are] better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil.

For if one falls, his companion may help him up. But pity the one who falls and there is {no one} to help him up.

{Although an assailant may overpower one person, two may withstand him}. A threefold cord {is not easily broken}!

A poor but wise youth [is] better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows {how to receive advice}.

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

There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

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.

Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be quick to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you [are] on earth; therefore, let your words be few.

For a dream comes with many cares, and the voice of a fool with many words.

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

It is better that you not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

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}.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth {hoarded} by its owner to his harm.

That wealth was lost in a bad venture. Although he has borne a child, {he has nothing to leave to him}.

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?

Look! I have discovered what is good and fitting: to eat and to drink and {to enjoy} all [the fruit of] the toil with which one toils under the sun during the number of the days of his life that God gives to him--for this [is] his lot.

This indeed is a gift of God: everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions, he also empowers him {to enjoy them}, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in [the fruit of] his toil.

Here is another misfortune that I have seen under the sun, and it [is] prevalent among humankind.

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.

Even if a man lives a thousand years twice, if he does not enjoy {prosperity}, {both suffer the same fate}!

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

For who knows what [is] good for a man in his life during the few days of his fleeting life, which are fleeting as a shadow? For who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future} under the sun?

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

Better to listen to [the] rebuke of [the] wise than for a man to listen to [the] song of fools.

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

Surely oppression makes a fool of the wise, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

The end of a matter [is] better than its beginning; {better to be slow to anger than hot-headed}.

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

Consider the work of God. For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?

I have seen all these things in my vain life: Sometimes a righteous man perishes in [spite of] his righteousness, and sometimes a wicked man lives a long life in [spite of] his evil.

Do not be excessively righteous, and do not act excessively wise, lest you destroy yourself.

Do not act excessively wicked, and do not be a fool, lest you die before your time.

Wisdom gives more strength to the wise than ten rulers who are in the city.

Surely there is no one righteous on the earth who [continually] does good and never sins.

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

For your heart knows that you also have cursed others many times.

All this I have tested with wisdom. I said, "I will be wise!" but {it was beyond my grasp}.