Because of the sin of the land, its troubles are increased; but by a man of wisdom and knowledge they will be put out like a fire.

Anyone causing the upright to go wandering in an evil way, will himself go down into the hole he has made; but the upright will have good things for their heritage.

He who keeps his sins secret will not do well; but one who is open about them, and gives them up, will get mercy.

Happy is the man in whom is the fear of the Lord at all times; but he whose heart is hard will come into trouble.

The prince who has no sense is a cruel ruler; but he who has no desire to get profit for himself will have long life.

One who has been the cause of a man's death will go in flight to the underworld: let no man give him help.

He whose ways are upright will be safe, but sudden will be the fall of him whose ways are twisted.

By ploughing his land a man will have bread in full measure; but he who goes after good-for-nothing persons will be poor enough.

A man of good faith will have great blessing, but one attempting to get wealth quickly will not go free from punishment.

It is not good to have respect for a man's position: for a man will do wrong for a bit of bread.

He who is ever desiring wealth goes running after money, and does not see that need will come on him.

He who says words of protest to a man will later have more approval than one who says smooth words with his tongue.

He who is ever desiring profit is a cause of fighting; but he who puts his faith in the Lord will be made fat.

He whose faith is in himself is foolish; but everyone walking wisely will be kept safe.

He who gives to the poor will never be in need, but great curses will be on him who gives no attention to them.

A man hating sharp words and making his heart hard, will suddenly be broken and will not be made well again.

If a wise man goes to law with a foolish man, he may be angry or laughing, but there will be no rest.

The king who is a true judge in the cause of the poor, will be safe for ever on the seat of his power.

When evil men are in power, wrongdoing is increased; but the upright will have pleasure when they see their downfall.

Give your son training, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your soul.

Where there is no vision, the people are uncontrolled; but he who keeps the law will be happy.

A servant will not be trained by words; for though the sense of the words is clear to him, he will not give attention.

If a servant is gently cared for from his early years, he will become a cause of sorrow in the end.

A man's pride will be the cause of his fall, but he who has a gentle spirit will get honour.

The fear of man is a cause of danger: but whoever puts his faith in the Lord will have a safe place on high.

Make no addition to his words, or he will make clear your error, and you will be seen to be false.

Do not say evil of a servant to his master, or he will put a curse on you, and you will get into trouble.

The eye which makes sport of a father, and sees no value in a mother when she is old will be rooted out by the ravens of the valley, and be food for the young eagles.

For three things the earth is moved, and there are four which it will not put up with:

Let him have drink, and his need will go from his mind, and the memory of his trouble will be gone.

The heart of her husband has faith in her, and he will have profit in full measure.

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.

There is no memory of those who have gone before, and of those who come after there will be no memory for those who are still to come after them.

I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.

Of the wise man, as of the foolish man, there is no memory for ever, seeing that those who now are will have gone from memory in the days to come. See how death comes to the wise as to the foolish!

Hate had I for all my work which I had done, because the man who comes after me will have its fruits.

And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.

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.

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.

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.

All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all will be turned to dust again.

So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?

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.

A young man who is poor and wise is better than a king who is old and foolish and will not be guided by the wisdom of others.

There was no end of all the people, of all those whose head he was, but they who come later will have no delight in him. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

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?

He will not give much thought to the days of his life; because God lets him be taken up with the joy of his heart.

In wind it came and to the dark it will go, and with the dark will its name be covered.

Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?

It is better to go to the house of weeping, than to go to the house of feasting; because that is the end of every man, and the living will take it to their hearts.

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.

All this I have put to the test by wisdom; I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.

And I saw a thing more bitter than death, even the woman whose heart is full of tricks and nets, and whose hands are as bands. He with whom God is pleased will get free from her, but the sinner will be taken by her.

Who is like the wise man? and to whom is the sense of anything clear? A man's wisdom makes his face shining, and his hard face will be changed.

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

No one is certain what is to be, and who is able to say to him when it will be?

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.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and his life is long, I am certain that it will be well for those who go in fear of God and are in fear before him.

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.

So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

All this I took to heart, and my heart saw it all: that the upright and the wise and their works are in the hand of God; and men may not be certain if it will be love or hate; all is to no purpose before them.

The living are conscious that death will come to them, but the dead are not conscious of anything, and they no longer have a reward, because there is no memory of them.

He who makes a hole for others will himself go into it, and for him who makes a hole through a wall the bite of a snake will be a punishment.

He who gets out stones from the earth will be damaged by them, and in the cutting of wood there is danger.

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.

Put out your bread on the face of the waters; for after a long time it will come back to you again.

Give a part to seven or even to eight, because you have no knowledge of the evil which will be on the earth.

If the clouds are full of rain, they send it down on the earth; and if a tree comes down to the south, or the north, in whatever place it comes down, there it will be.

He who is watching the wind will not get the seed planted, and he who is looking at the clouds will not get in the grain.

In the morning put your seed into the earth, and till the evening let not your hand be at rest; because you are not certain which will do well, this or that--or if the two will be equally good.

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.

Have joy, O young man, while you are young; and let your heart be glad in the days of your strength, and go in the ways of your heart, and in the desire of your eyes; but be certain that for all these things God will be your judge.

Let your mind be turned to your Maker in the days of your strength, while the evil days come not, and the years are far away when you will say, I have no pleasure in them;

When the doors are shut in the street, and the sound of the crushing is low, and the voice of the bird is soft, and the daughters of music will be made low;

God will be judge of every work, with every secret thing, good or evil.

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.

We will make you chains of gold with ornaments of silver.

I will get up now and go about the town, in the streets and in the wide ways I will go after him who is the love of my soul: I went after him, but I did not see him.

Till the evening comes, and the sky slowly becomes dark, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

I say to you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you see my loved one, what will you say to him? That I am overcome with love.

Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, so that our eyes may see you. What will you see in the Shulammite? A sword-dance.

I said, Let me go up the palm-tree, and let me take its branches in my hands: your breasts will be as the fruit of the vine, and the smell of your breath like apples;

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.

If she is a wall, we will make on her a strong base of silver; and if she is a door, we will let her be shut up with cedar-wood.

My vine-garden, which is mine, is before me: you, O Solomon, will have the thousand, and those who keep the fruit of them two hundred.

Why will you have more and more punishment? why keep on in your evil ways? Every head is tired and every heart is feeble.

And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood.

If you will give ear to my word and do it, the good things of the land will be yours;

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

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;

And my hand will again be on you, washing away what is unclean as with soap, and taking away all your false metal;

And I will give you judges again as at the first, and wise guides as in the past; then you will be named, The Town of Righteousness, the true town.

Upright acts will be the price of Zion's forgiveness, and by righteousness will men be living there.