"Many women have done wonderful things," he says, "but you surpass all of them!"

I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

I told myself, "I have become greater and wiser than anyone who ruled before me in Jerusalem yes, I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge."

And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Either way, he will take possession of everything that I have done on earth, especially where I have excelled. This also is pointless.

I have observed the burdens placed by God on human beings in order to perfect them.

I have concluded that the only worthwhile thing for them is to take pleasure in doing good in life;

I have concluded that everything that God undertakes will last for eternity nothing can be added to it nor taken away from it and that God acts this way so that people will fear him.

Next I turned to consider all kinds of oppression that exists on earth. Look at the tears of the oppressed there is no one to comfort them. Power is on the side of their oppressors; so they have no comforters.

It's better to have one handful of tranquility than to have two handfuls of trouble and to chase after the wind.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.

Whoever loves money will never have enough money. Whoever loves luxury will not be content with abundance. This also is pointless.

I have observed a painful tragedy on earth: Wealth hoarded by its owner harms him,

There exists another misfortune that I have observed on earth, and it is a heavy burden upon human beings:

For what advantage has the wise person over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have in knowing how to face life?

Indeed, wisdom gives protection, just like money does, but it's better to know that wisdom gives life, to those who have mastered it.

I have seen it all during my pointless life: both a righteous person who dies while he is righteous, and a wicked person who lives to an old age, while remaining wicked.

since you also know how often you have cursed others.

Among the things I seek but have not found: one man among a thousand I did find, but I have not found one woman to be wise among all these.

I have discovered only this: God made human beings for righteousness, but they seek many alternatives."

At least the living know they will die, but the dead know nothing; they no longer have a reward, since memory about them has been forgotten.

Furthermore, their love, their hate, and their envy have been long lost. Never again will they have a part in what happens on earth.

And I have observed servants riding on horses, while princes walk on the ground like servants.

Apportion what you have into seven, or even eight parts, because you don't know what disaster might befall the land.

Blossoms have appeared in the land. The season of songbirds has arrived, and cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.

The fig tree has produced its fruit, the grapevines have blossomed and exude their fragrance. "Get up, my darling, my beautiful one, and come on.

The watchmen who go all around the city found me. I asked, "Have you seen the one I love?"

You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride. You have made my heart beat faster with one glance of your eyes, with one strand of your necklace.

Let us go early to the vineyards, let us see whether the vine has budded, whether the blossom has opened, whether the pomegranates have bloomed. There I'll give you my love.

We have a little sister, and she has not yet reached maturity. What will we do for our sister to prepare her for her engagement?

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there's no soundness evident only bruises, sores, and festering wounds that haven't been cleaned out, bandaged, or treated with oil."

"Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land they've brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.

They'll be ashamed of the oak trees that you desired; and you'll blush because of the gardens that you have chosen.

For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with practices learned from the East and they are fortune-tellers like the Philistines. They cut deals with foreigners.

Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.

At that time, mankind will throw their silver and gold idols that their fingers have made as objects of worship to the moles and to the bats.

"For a man will grab his brother in his own father's house, and say, "You have a cloak, so you be our leader, and this heap of ruins will be under your rule!'

"But at that time, he'll protest! He'll say, "I won't be your healer. I have neither food nor clothing in my house! You're not going to make me a leader of the people!'

"The expressions on their faces give them away. They parade their sin around like Sodom; they don't even try to hide it. How horrible it will be for them, because they have brought disaster on themselves!"

The LORD will go to court to oppose the elders and princes of his people: "You're the ones who have been devouring the vineyard, the plunder of the poor is in your own houses!

when the LORD will have washed away the filth of the women of Zion, cleaning up Jerusalem's guilt by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of tempest.

What more could I do in my vineyard, that I haven't already done? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield wild ones?

"How terrible it will be for you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you have settled yourselves alone in the middle of the land!"

They have the lyre and harp, the tambourine and flute, as well as wine at their festivals, but they don't respect what the LORD is doing, nor do they consider his actions.

Therefore, as flames of fire devour straw, as dry grass collapses in flames, so their root will be rotten, and their blossom will blow away like dust, because they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

"How terrible it will be for me!" I cried, "because I am ruined! I'm a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips! And my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies!"

Aram, Ephraim, and Remaliah's son have plotted this evil against you:

and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will have cheese to eat, since whoever remains in the land will be eating cheese and honey.

"Because this people have rejected the gently-flowing waters of Shiloah, and because they keep rejoicing in Rezin and Remaliah's son,

But there will be no gloom for her who was in distress. Formerly, he brought contempt to the region of Zebulun and the region of Naphtali, but in the future he will have made glorious the way of the sea, the territory beyond the Jordan Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; for those living in a land of deep darkness, a light has shined upon them.

You have increased the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice in your presence as they rejoice at the harvest, as they are glad when they're dividing the spoils of war.

Now as to the yoke that has been his burden, and the bar laid on his shoulder the rod of his oppressor you have broken it as on the day of Midian.

"The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamore trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.'

"But the people have not returned to rely on him who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

Therefore the Lord does not have pity on their young men, and has no compassion on their orphans and widows, because each of them was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

From the wrath of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies the land has been scorched, and the people have become like fuel for the fire; no one will spare his neighbor.

"How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed

so you won't have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

will I not deal with Jerusalem and her idols as I have dealt with Samaria and her images?'"

My hand has found, as if in a nest, the wealth of the people; and as one gathers eggs that have been abandoned, so I have gathered all the inhabitants of the earth. Nothing moved a wing, opened its mouth, or chirped.'

At that time, you will say: "I will praise you, LORD, for although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.

I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also summoned my warriors, those who rejoice in my triumph, to carry out my angry judgments.

However, the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will once again choose Israel. He will settle them in their own land, and foreigners will join them, affiliating themselves with the house of Jacob.

In answer, all of them will tell you, "You've also become as weak as we are! You have become just like us!'

"How you have fallen from heaven, Day Star, son of the Dawn! How you have been thrown down to earth, you who laid low the nation!

you will not be united with them in burial, for you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people. People will never mention the descendants of those who practice evil again!

The LORD of the Heavenly Armies has sworn: "Surely as I have planned, that's what she will become; and just as I have determined, so will it remain

Therefore the wealth they have acquired and what they have stored up they carry them away over the Arab Wadi.

For the fields of Heshbon wither, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have struck down its choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and pushed to the desert. Its shoots spread out and passed over the sea."

"Therefore I weep with the tears of Jazer for the vines of Sibmah. I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh for the shouts of joy over your summer fruit and your grain harvest have ended.

"At that time, Jacob's glory will have become weakened, and his strong flesh will turn gaunt;

They will not look upon the altars, the products that their own fingers have made, and they will have no regard for Asherah poles or incense altars.

For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock that is your strength. Therefore even though you plant delightful plants, sowing them with imported vine-seedlings,

The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis deluded; the leaders of its tribes have led Egypt astray.

Therefore my body is racked with pain; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am so upset that I cannot hear; I am so frightened that I cannot see while I'm reeling around.

For this is what the LORD told me: "Go post a lookout. Have him report what he sees.

Look! Here come riders, each man with a pair of horses!" They're shouting out the answer: "Babylon has fallen, has fallen, and they have shattered all the images of her gods on the ground!

O my downtrodden people, my wall! I'll tell you what I have heard from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel."

All your leaders have fled together; she is captured without using bows. All of you who were caught were captured together, although they had fled while the enemy was still far away.

Be ashamed, Sidon, because the sea has spoken, the fortress of the sea: I have neither been in labor nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women."

The earth lies defiled beneath its inhabitants; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

"The celebrations of the tambourine have ended, the noise of the jubilant has stopped, and the mirth that the harp produces has ended.

LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for you have done marvelous things, plans made long ago in faithfulness and truth.

For you have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified city into a ruin; the foreigners' citadel is no longer a city it will never be rebuilt!

For you have been a stronghold for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat for the blistering attack from the ruthless is like a rainstorm beating against a wall,

At that time, people will sing this song in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; God crafts victory, its walls and ramparts.

"Trust in the LORD forever, for in the LORD GOD you have an everlasting rock.

LORD, you will decide peace for us, for you have indeed accomplished all our achievements for us.

O LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but through you alone we acknowledge your name.

"But you have enlarged the nation, LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained honor; you have extended all the borders of the land.

We were pregnant, writhing in pain, but we gave birth only to wind. We have not won your victory on earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world been born."

Has the LORD struck them down, just as he struck down those who struck them? Or have they been killed, just as their killers were killed?

Because you said: "We have entered into a covenant with death, and we have an agreement with Sheol, so when the overwhelming scourge makes its choice, it cannot reach us, since we have made lies our refuge and have concealed ourselves inside falsehood,'

But as for you, don't start mocking, or your chains will become tighter; for I have heard from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies about destruction, and it is decreed against the whole land.

"Pay attention! Listen to what I have to say; Pay attention, and hear my speech.

"How terrible it will be for you who go to great depths to hide your plans from the LORD, you whose deeds have been done in the dark, and who say, "Who can see us? Who has recognized us?'

For the ruthless will vanish, and mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down

You will have songs as on nights when people celebrate a holy festival, and gladness of heart, as when they set out with flutes to go to the LORD's mountain, to the Rock of Israel.

Turn back to him, yes to him whom your people have so greatly betrayed, you people of Israel.