For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.

I will praise the Lord while I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

He has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His ordinances, they have not known them.
Praise the Lord!

Throw in your lot with us,
We shall all have one purse,”

Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back,
And tomorrow I will give it,”
When you have it with you.

I have directed you in the way of wisdom;
I have led you in upright paths.

And you say, “How I have hated instruction!
And my heart spurned reproof!

“I have not listened to the voice of my teachers,
Nor inclined my ear to my instructors!

My son, if you have become surety for your neighbor,
Have given a pledge for a stranger,

If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
Have been caught with the words of your mouth,

Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.

“I was due to offer peace offerings;
Today I have paid my vows.

“Therefore I have come out to meet you,
To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.

“I have spread my couch with coverings,
With colored linens of Egypt.

“I have sprinkled my bed
With myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

“Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.

He who tills his land will have plenty of bread,
But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense.

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,
But counselors of peace have joy.

The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways,
But a good man will be satisfied with his.

In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence,
And his children will have refuge.

A man of great anger will bear the penalty,
For if you rescue him, you will only have to do it again.

Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart,
I am pure from my sin”?

The rich and the poor have a common bond,
The Lord is the maker of them all.

So that your trust may be in the Lord,
I have taught you today, even you.

Have I not written to you excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge,

If you have nothing with which to pay,
Why should he take your bed from under you?

Do not move the ancient boundary
Which your fathers have set.

You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten,
And waste your compliments.

For it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,”
Than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.

Have you found honey? Eat only what you need,
That you not have it in excess and vomit it.

He who tills his land will have plenty of food,
But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.

He who gives to the poor will never want,
But he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.

The poor man and the oppressor have this in common:
The Lord gives light to the eyes of both.

Surely I am more stupid than any man,
And I do not have the understanding of a man.

Neither have I learned wisdom,
Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

This is the way of an adulterous woman:
She eats and wipes her mouth,
And says, “I have done no wrong.”

The locusts have no king,
Yet all of them go out in ranks;

If you have been foolish in exalting yourself
Or if you have plotted evil, put your hand on your mouth.

The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.

“Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all.”

What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?

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

I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.

I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.

There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.

For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?

I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity.

I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?

I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind.

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

I have seen all the living under the sun throng to the side of the second lad who replaces him.

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt.

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men—

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he,

For what advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have, knowing how to walk before the living?

I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

For you also have realized that you likewise have many times cursed others.

“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation,

which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these.

Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”

All this I have seen and applied my mind to every deed that has been done under the sun wherein a man has exercised authority over another man to his hurt.

So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.

For I have taken all this to my heart and explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.

For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten.

Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.

There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like an error which goes forth from the ruler—

I have seen slaves riding on horses and princes walking like slaves on the land.

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no delight in them”;

“Your oils have a pleasing fragrance,
Your name is like purified oil;
Therefore the maidens love you.

“Do not stare at me because I am swarthy,
For the sun has burned me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
They made me caretaker of the vineyards,
But I have not taken care of my own vineyard.

‘The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.

‘The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along!’”

“The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me,
And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’

“How beautiful you are, my darling,
How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil;
Your hair is like a flock of goats
That have descended from Mount Gilead.

“Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes
Which have come up from their washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them has lost her young.

“You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride;
You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes,
With a single strand of your necklace.

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Eat, friends;
Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.”

“I have taken off my dress,
How can I put it on again?
I have washed my feet,
How can I dirty them again?

“Turn your eyes away from me,
For they have confused me;
Your hair is like a flock of goats
That have descended from Gilead.

“Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
Which have come up from their washing,
All of which bear twins,
And not one among them has lost her young.

“Let us rise early and go to the vineyards;
Let us see whether the vine has budded
And its blossoms have opened,
And whether the pomegranates have bloomed.
There I will give you my love.

“The mandrakes have given forth fragrance;
And over our doors are all choice fruits,
Both new and old,
Which I have saved up for you, my beloved.

“We have a little sister,
And she has no breasts;
What shall we do for our sister
On the day when she is spoken for?

Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth;
For the Lord speaks,
“Sons I have reared and brought up,
But they have revolted against Me.

Alas, sinful nation,
People weighed down with iniquity,
Offspring of evildoers,
Sons who act corruptly!
They have abandoned the Lord,
They have despised the Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away from Him.

“What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle;
And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.

“I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts,
They have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.

Surely you will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired,
And you will be embarrassed at the gardens which you have chosen.

For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled with influences from the east,
And they are soothsayers like the Philistines,
And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.

Their land has also been filled with idols;
They worship the work of their hands,
That which their fingers have made.

For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and lofty
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be abased.

When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,
And these ruins will be under your charge,”

The expression of their faces bears witness against them,
And they display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.

The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people,
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.