Fair looks are a deceit, and a beautiful form is of no value; but a woman who has the fear of the Lord is to be praised.

All things are full of weariness; man may not give their story: the eye has never enough of its seeing, or the ear of its hearing.

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 anything of which men say, See, this is new? It has been in the old time which was before us.

And I gave my heart to searching out in wisdom all things which are done under heaven: it is a hard thing which God has put on the sons of men to do.

I said to my heart, See, I have become great and am increased in wisdom more than any who were before me in Jerusalem--yes, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.

And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.

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.

What does a man get for all his work, and for the weight of care with which he has done his work under the sun?

All his days are sorrow, and his work is full of grief. Even in the night his heart has no rest. This again is to no purpose.

To the man with whom he is pleased, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of getting goods together and storing up wealth, to give to him in whom God has pleasure. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

What profit has the worker in the work which he does?

I saw the work which God has put on the sons of man.

He has made everything right in its time; but he has made their hearts without knowledge, so that man is unable to see the works of God, from the first to the last.

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 been before, and what is to be is now; because God makes search for the things which are past.

I said in my heart, God will be judge of the good and of the bad; because a time for every purpose and for every work has been fixed by him.

Yes, happier than the dead or the living seemed he who has not ever been, who has not seen the evil which is done under the sun.

It is one who is by himself, without a second, and without son or brother; but there is no end to all his work, and he has never enough of wealth. For whom, then, am I working and keeping myself from pleasure? This again is to no purpose, and a bitter work.

And if one has a fall, the other will give him a hand; but unhappy is the man who is by himself, because he has no helper.

When you take an oath before God, put it quickly into effect, because he has no pleasure in the foolish; keep the oath you have taken.

He who has a love for silver never has enough silver, or he who has love for wealth, enough profit. This again is to no purpose.

When goods are increased, the number of those who take of them is increased; and what profit has the owner but to see them?

The sleep of a working man is sweet, if he has little food or much; but to him who is full, sleep will not come.

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?

All his days are in the dark, and he has much sorrow, pain, disease, and trouble.

This is what I have seen: it is good and fair for a man to take meat and drink and to have joy in all his work under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; that is his reward.

Every man to whom God has given money and wealth and the power to have pleasure in it and to do his part and have joy in his work: this is given by God.

A man to whom God gives money, wealth, and honour so that he has all his desires but God does not give him the power to have joy of it, and a strange man takes it. This is to no purpose and an evil disease.

If a man has a hundred children, and his life is long so that the days of his years are great in number, but his soul takes no pleasure in good, and he is not honoured at his death; I say that a birth before its time is better than he.

All the work of man is for his mouth, and still he has a desire for food.

What have the wise more than the foolish? and what has the poor man by walking wisely before the living?

That which is, has been named before, and of what man is there is knowledge. He has no power against one stronger than he.

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

In the day of wealth have joy, but in the day of evil take thought: God has put the one against the other, so that man may not be certain what will be after him.

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.

Your heart has knowledge how frequently others have been cursed by you.

The word of a king has authority; and who may say to him, What is this you are doing?

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

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.

All this have I seen, and have given my heart to all the work which is done under the sun: there is a time when man has power over man for his destruction.

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.

Because to all there is one event, to the upright man and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him who makes an offering and to him who makes no offering; as is the good so is the sinner; he who takes an oath is as he who has fear of it.

Come, take your bread with joy, and your wine with a glad heart. God has taken pleasure in your works.

Even man has no knowledge of his time; like fishes taken in an evil net, or like birds taken by deceit, are the sons of men taken in an evil time when it comes suddenly on them.

And when the foolish man is walking in the way, he has no sense and lets everyone see that he is foolish.

If the iron has no edge, and he does not make it sharp, then he has to put out more strength; but wisdom makes things go well.

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.

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.

As you have no knowledge of the way of the wind, or of the growth of the bones in the body of her who is with child, even so you have no knowledge of the works of God who has made all.

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.

This is the last word. All has been said. Have fear of God and keep his laws; because this is right for every man.

Take me to you, and we will go after you: the king has taken me into his house. We will be glad and full of joy in you, we will give more thought to your love than to wine: rightly are they your lovers.

All of them armed with swords, trained in war; every man has his sword at his side, because of fear in the night.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep whose wool is newly cut, which come up from the washing; every one has two lambs, and there is not one without young.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which come up from the washing; every one has two lambs, and there is not one without young.

Let us go out early to the vine-gardens; let us see if the vine is in bud, if it has put out its young fruit, and the pomegranate is in flower. There I will give you my love.

We have a young sister, and she has no breasts; what are we to do for our sister in the day when she is given to a man?

Give ear, O heavens, and you, O earth, to the word which the Lord has said: I have taken care of my children till they became men, but their hearts have been turned away from me.

Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me.

The body, from head to foot, is all diseased; it is a mass of open wounds, marks of blows, and broken flesh: the flow of blood has not been stopped, and no oil has been put on the wounds.

Your country has become waste; your towns are burned with fire; as for your land, it is overturned before your eyes, made waste and overcome by men from strange lands.

And the daughter of Zion has become like a tent in a vine-garden, like a watchman's house in a field of fruit, like a town shut in by armies.

Take pleasure in well-doing; let your ways be upright, keep down the cruel, give a right decision for the child who has no father, see to the cause of the widow.

But if your hearts are turned against me, I will send destruction on you by the sword; so the Lord has said.

The upright town has become untrue; there was a time when her judges gave right decisions, when righteousness had a resting-place in her, but now she is full of those who take men's lives.

Your chiefs have gone against the Lord, they have become friends of thieves; every one of them is looking for profit and going after rewards; they do not give right decisions for the child who has no father, and they do not let the cause of the widow come before them.

For this reason the Lord, the Lord of armies, the Strong One of Israel, has said, I will put an end to my haters, and send punishment on those who are against me;

The strong man and the man of war; the judge and the prophet; the man who has knowledge of secret arts, and the man who is wise because of his years;

For Jerusalem has become feeble, and destruction has come on Judah, because their words and their acts are against the Lord, moving the eyes of his glory to wrath.

Again, the Lord has said, Because the daughters of Zion are full of pride, and go with outstretched necks and wandering eyes, with their foot-chains sounding when they go:

And it will come about that the rest of the living in Zion, and of those who have been kept from destruction in Jerusalem, will be named holy, even everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem:

When Zion has been washed from her sin by the Lord, and Jerusalem made clean from her blood by a judging and a burning wind.

The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them.

For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it.

For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town.

And the Lord has taken men far away, and there are wide waste places in the land.

And even if there is still a tenth part in it, it will again be burned, like a tree of the woods whose broken end is still in the earth after the tree has been cut down (the holy seed is the broken end).

Because Aram has made evil designs against you, saying,

The Lord is about to send on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, such a time of trouble as there has not been from the days of the separating of Ephraim from Judah; even the coming of the king of Assyria.

And the Lord said to me, Take a great writing-board, and on it put down in common letters, Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

And I went in to my wife, and she became with child, and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, Give him the name Maher-shalal-hash-baz,

See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, whose resting-place is in Mount Zion.

For to us a child has come, to us a son is given; and the government has been placed in his hands; and he has been named Wise Guide, Strong God, Father for ever, Prince of Peace.

The Lord has sent a word to Jacob, and it has come on Israel;

For this cause the Lord has made strong the haters of Israel, driving them on to make war against him;

As my hand has come on the kingdoms of the images, whose pictured images were more in number than those of Jerusalem and Samaria;

For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them;

And I have put my hands on the wealth of the peoples, as on the place where a bird has put her eggs; and as a man may take the eggs from which a bird has gone, so I have taken all the earth for myself: and not a wing was moved, and not a mouth gave out a sound.

He has gone up from Pene-Rimmon, he has come to Aiath; he has gone past Migron, at Michmash he puts his forces in order.

They have gone across the mountain; Geba will be our resting-place tonight, they say: Ramah is shaking with fear; Gibeah of Saul has gone in flight.

Madmenah has gone; the men of Gebim are putting their goods in a safe place.

See, God is my salvation; I will have faith in the Lord, without fear: for the Lord Jah is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.

Make a song to the Lord; for he has done noble things: give news of them through all the earth.

That you will take up this bitter song against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the cruel overseer come to an end! He who was lifted up in pride is cut off;

Even the trees of the wood are glad over you, the trees of Lebanon, saying, From the time of your fall no wood-cutter has come up against us with an axe.

Your pride has gone down into the underworld, and the noise of your instruments of music; the worms are under you, and your body is covered with them.

The Lord has taken an oath, saying, My design will certainly come about, and my purpose will be effected:

Send out a cry, O door! Make sounds of sorrow, O town! All your land has come to nothing, O Philistia; for there comes a smoke out of the north, and everyone keeps his place in the line.