Therefore I have come forth to meet thee, To seek earnestly thy face, and I find thee.

I, wisdom, have dwelt with prudence, And a knowledge of devices I find out.

The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil; Pride, and arrogance, and an evil way, And a froward mouth, I have hated.

Mine is counsel and substance, I am understanding, I have might.

And whoso is missing me, is wronging his soul, All hating me have loved death!

'Come, eat of my bread, And drink of the wine I have mingled.

No iniquity is desired by the righteous, And the wicked have been full of evil.

The simple have inherited folly, And the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

The evil have bowed down before the good, And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

The words of a tale-bearer are as self-inflicted wounds, And they have gone down to the inner parts of the heart.

Many entreat the face of the noble, And all have made friendship to a man of gifts.

All the brethren of the poor have hated him, Surely also his friends have been far from him, He is pursuing words -- they are not!

Judgments have been prepared for scorners, And stripes for the back of fools!

Who saith, 'I have purified my heart, I have been cleansed from my sin?'

The spoil of the wicked catcheth them, Because they have refused to do judgment.

The desire of the slothful slayeth him, For his hands have refused to work.

Rich and poor have met together, The Maker of them all is Jehovah.

The prudent hath seen the evil, and is hidden, And the simple have passed on, and are punished.

The eyes of Jehovah have kept knowledge, And He overthroweth the words of the treacherous.

Have I not written to thee three times With counsels and knowledge?

Lest thou learn his paths, And have received a snare to thy soul.

Remove not a border of olden times, That thy fathers have made.

Have no desire to his dainties, seeing it is lying food.

Eat not the bread of an evil eye, And have no desire to his dainties,

They smote me, I have not been sick, They beat me, I have not known. When I awake -- I seek it yet again!'

And lo, it hath gone up -- all of it -- thorns! Covered its face have nettles, And its stone wall hath been broken down.

And I see -- I -- I do set my heart, I have seen -- I have received instruction,

For better that he hath said to thee, 'Come thou up hither,' Than that he humble thee before a noble, Whom thine eyes have seen.

Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house, Lest he be satiated with thee, and have hated thee.

Weak have been the two legs of the lame, And a parable in the mouth of fools.

The words of a tale-bearer are as self-inflicted wounds, And they have gone down to the inner parts of the heart.

The prudent hath seen the evil, he is hidden, The simple have passed on, they are punished.

The wicked have fled and there is no pursuer. And the righteous as a young lion is confident.

The poor and the man of frauds have met together, Jehovah is enlightening the eyes of them both.

Words of a Gatherer, son of an obedient one, the declaration, an affirmation of the man: -- I have wearied myself for God, I have wearied myself for God, and am consumed.

For I am more brutish than any one, And have not the understanding of a man.

Nor have I learned wisdom, Yet the knowledge of Holy Ones I know.

Two things I have asked from Thee, Withhold not from me before I die.

Lest I become satiated, and have denied, And have said, 'Who is Jehovah?' And lest I be poor, and have stolen, And have laid hold of the name of my God.

To the leech are two daughters, 'Give, give, Lo, three things are not satisfied, Four have not said 'Sufficiency;'

Three things have been too wonderful for me, Yea, four that I have not known:

So -- the way of an adulterous woman, She hath eaten and hath wiped her mouth, And hath said, 'I have not done iniquity.'

Her hands she hath sent forth on a spindle, And her hands have held a distaff.

Her sons have risen up, and pronounce her happy, Her husband, and he praiseth her,

Many are the daughters who have done worthily, Thou hast gone up above them all.'

I, a preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

And I have given my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that hath been done under the heavens. It is a sad travail God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

I have seen all the works that have been done under the sun, and lo, the whole is vanity and vexation of spirit!

I -- I spake with my heart, saying, 'I, lo, I have magnified and added wisdom above every one who hath been before me at Jerusalem, and my heart hath seen abundantly wisdom and knowledge.

And I give my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I have known that even this is vexation of spirit;

I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where is this -- the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.

and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labour that I have laboured to do, and lo, the whole is vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!

And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what is the man who cometh after the king? that which is already -- they have done it!

And I have hated life, for sad to me is the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole is vanity and vexation of spirit.

And I have hated all my labour that I labour at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.

And who knoweth whether he is wise or foolish? yet he doth rule over all my labour that I have laboured at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! this also is vanity.

There is nothing good in a man who eateth, and hath drunk, and hath shewn his soul good in his labour. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.

I have seen the travail that God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

I have known that there is no good for them except to rejoice and to do good during their life,

I have known that all that God doth is to the age, to it nothing is to be added, and from it nothing is to be withdrawn; and God hath wrought that they do fear before Him.

And again, I have seen under the sun the place of judgment -- there is the wicked; and the place of righteousness -- there is the wicked.

The whole are going unto one place, the whole have been from the dust, and the whole are turning back unto the dust.

And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it is his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him?

And I have turned, and I see all the oppressions that are done under the sun, and lo, the tear of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and at the hand of their oppressors is power, and they have no comforter.

And I am praising the dead who have already died above the living who are yet alive.

And I have seen all the labour, and all the benefit of the work, because for it a man is the envy of his neighbour. Even this is vanity and vexation of spirit.

And I have turned, and I see a vain thing under the sun:

The two are better than the one, in that they have a good reward by their labour.

Also, if two lie down, then they have heat, but how hath one heat?

I have seen all the living, who are walking under the sun, with the second youth who doth stand in his place;

In the multiplying of good have its consumers been multiplied, and what benefit is to its possessor except the sight of his eyes?

There is a painful evil I have seen under the sun: wealth kept for its possessor, for his evil.

Lo, that which I have seen: It is good, because beautiful, to eat, and to drink, and to see good in all one's labour that he laboureth at under the sun, the number of the days of his life that God hath given to him, for it is his portion.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is great on man:

If a man doth beget a hundred, and live many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he hath not had a grave, I have said, 'Better than he is the untimely birth.'

The whole I have considered in the days of my vanity. There is a righteous one perishing in his righteousness, and there is a wrong-doer prolonging himself in his wrong.

The wisdom giveth strength to a wise man, more than wealth the rulers who have been in a city.

All this I have tried by wisdom; I have said, 'I am wise,' and it is far from me.

I have turned round, also my heart, to know and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and reason, and to know the wrong of folly, and of foolishness the madness.

See, this I have found, said the Preacher, one to one, to find out the reason

(that still my soul had sought, and I had not found), One man, a teacher, I have found, and a woman among all these I have not found.

See, this alone I have found, that God made man upright, and they -- they have sought out many devices.

All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil.

And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This also is vanity.

There is a vanity that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this also is vanity.

And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to him under the sun.

But all this I have laid unto my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred doth man know, the whole is before them.

Their love also, their hatred also, their envy also, hath already perished, and they have no more a portion to the age in all that hath been done under the sun.

I have turned so as to see under the sun, that not to the swift is the race, nor to the mighty the battle, nor even to the wise bread, nor even to the intelligent wealth, nor even to the skilful grace, for time and chance happen with them all.

This also I have seen: wisdom under the sun, and it is great to me.

and there hath been found in it a poor wise man, and he hath delivered the city by his wisdom, and men have not remembered that poor man!

There is an evil I have seen under the sun, As an error that goeth out from the ruler,

I have seen servants on horses, And princes walking as servants on the earth.

Remember also thy Creators in days of thy youth, While that the evil days come not, Nor the years have arrived, that thou sayest, 'I have no pleasure in them.'

In the day that keepers of the house tremble, And men of strength have bowed themselves, And grinders have ceased, because they have become few. And those looking out at the windows have become dim,

And doors have been shut in the street. When the noise of the grinding is low, And one riseth at the voice of the bird, And all daughters of song are bowed down.

Also of that which is high they are afraid, And of the low places in the way, And the almond-tree is despised, And the grasshopper is become a burden, And want is increased, For man is going unto his home age-during, And the mourners have gone round through the street.

Words of the wise are as goads, and as fences planted by the masters of collections, they have been given by one shepherd.

For fragrance are thy perfumes good. Perfume emptied out -- thy name, Therefore have virgins loved thee!

Draw me: after thee we run, The king hath brought me into his inner chambers, We do joy and rejoice in thee, We mention thy loves more than wine, Uprightly they have loved thee!