She considers a field before she buys or accepts it [expanding her business prudently];
With her profits she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard.

She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.

Her hands are stretched out to the poor; yes, she is open-handed to those who are in need.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

Her husband is a man of note in the public place, when he takes his seat among the responsible men of the land.

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

Charm and grace are deceptive, and [superficial] beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord [reverently worshiping, obeying, serving, and trusting Him with awe-filled respect], she shall be praised.

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

What is that which hath been? it is that which is, and what is that which hath been done? it is that which is done, and there is not an entirely new thing under the sun.

There is not a remembrance of former generations; and also of the latter that are, there is no remembrance of them with those that are at the last.

A crooked thing one is not able to make straight, and a lacking thing is not able to be numbered.

And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone [do] who will come after the king that has not already been done?

For neither the wise nor the fool will be long remembered, since in days to come everything will be forgotten. The wise man dies the same way as the fool, does he not?

For who knoweth, whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? And yet shall he be lord of all my labours, which I with such wisdom have taken under the Sun. Is not this a vain thing?

For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

Is it not better then for a man to eat and drink, and his soul to be merry in his labour? Yea I saw that this also was a gift of God:

He hath made everything beautiful in its time; also he hath set the world in their heart, so that man findeth not out from the beginning to the end the work that God doeth.

I knew that all which God will do it shall be forever: to it not to be added, and from it not to be taken away: and God doing they shall be afraid from his face.

Because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of the beasts is the same. As is the death of one so is the death of the other, and all have one spirit. Man is not higher than the beasts; because all is to no purpose.

Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Also if two shall lie down, and heat to them: and to the one it shall not be warm.

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who knoweth not how to receive admonition any more.

There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

And those riches shall perish by evil labor: and he begetting a son, and not anything in his hand.

As he came out from the belly of his mother, naked he turneth back to go as he came, and he taketh not away anything of his labour, that doth go in his hand.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other.

Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

For what advantage has the wise man over the fool [for being worldly-wise is not the secret to happiness]? What advantage has the poor man who has learned how to walk [publicly] among the living [with men’s eyes on him; for being poor is not the secret to happiness either]?

What is that which hath been? already is its name called, and it is known that it is man, and he is not able to contend with him who is stronger than he.

It is better to take note of the protest of the wise, than for a man to give ear to the song of the foolish.

Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yea, God hath made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything that shall be after him.

Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?

Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?

It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.

For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee;

yea, and so deep that I might not reach unto her.

And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

Behold - sayeth the preacher - this have I diligently searched out and proved, that I might come by knowledge: which as yet I seek, and find it not.

Which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.

Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

Whoever obeys [his] command will not suffer disaster. The wise mind knows the [proper] time and the right [procedure].

For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness delivereth not its possessors.

So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out of the holy place [but did not thereby escape their doom], and they are [praised in spite of their evil and] soon forgotten in the city where they did such things. This too is futility (vanity, emptiness).

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.

All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Let thy garments be always white; and let not thy head lack oil.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

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!

Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.

If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.

If the snake bites before the charming, {the snake charmer will not succeed}.

A fool also multiplieth words: yet man knoweth not what shall be; and that which shall be after him, who can tell him?

The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.

Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.

In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

While that the silver cord is not removed, And the golden bowl broken, And the pitcher broken by the fountain, And the wheel broken at the well.

Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught knowledge to the people; he carefully evaluated and arranged many proverbs.

The Proclaimer sought to find out words giving delight, and to note down rightly, the words of truth.

But beyond this my son, [about going further than the words given by one Shepherd], be warned: the writing of many books is endless [so do not believe everything you read], and excessive study and devotion to books is wearying to the body.

“Draw me away with you and let us run together!
Let the king bring me into his chambers.”

Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.