For what advantage hath the wise above the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?

Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

That which is hath already been named; and what man is, is known, and that he cannot contend with him that is mightier than he.

For there are many things that increase vanity: what is man advantaged?

A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: in that that is the end of all men, and the living taketh it to heart.

Vexation is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise, than to hear the song of fools.

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning; better is a patient spirit than a proud spirit.

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

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, and profitable to them that see the sun.

For wisdom is a defence as money is a defence; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom maketh them that possess it to live.

In the day of prosperity enjoy good, and in the day of adversity consider: God hath also set the one beside the other, to the end that man should find out nothing of what shall be after him.

All this have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a righteous man that perisheth by his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his days by his wickedness.

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

Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men that are in a city.

Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not.

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

For also thine own heart knoweth that oftentimes thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.

and I found more bitter than death the woman whose heart is nets and snares, and whose hands are bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be caught by her.

Only see this which I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices.

I say, Keep the king's commandment, and that on account of the oath of God.

for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?

There is no man who hath control over the spirit to retain the spirit; and no one hath control over the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war, neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when man ruleth man to his hurt.

Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his days, yet I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, because they fear before him;

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are righteous men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; and there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

And I commended mirth, because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry; for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun.

When I applied my 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 saw that all is the work of God, and that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however man may labour to seek it out, yet doth he not find it; and even, if a wise man think to know it, he shall not be able to find it out.

For all this I laid to my heart and indeed to investigate all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; man knoweth neither love nor hatred: all is before them.

All things come alike to all: 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; he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

This is an evil among all that is done under the sun, that one thing befalleth all: yea, also the heart of the children of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live; and after that, they have to go to the dead.

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

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

Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy is already perished; neither have they any more for ever a portion in all that is done under the sun.

Enjoy life with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity; for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherein thou art labouring under the sun.

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 the intelligent, nor yet favour to men of knowledge; 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 taken with the snare, like them are the children of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

and there was found in it a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city; but no man remembered that poor man.

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

The words of the wise are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroyeth much good.

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to stink and ferment; so a little folly is weightier than wisdom and honour.

Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his sense faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as an error that proceedeth from the ruler:

He that diggeth a pit falleth into it; and whoso breaketh down a hedge, a serpent biteth him.

Whoso removeth stones is hurt therewith; he that cleaveth wood is endangered thereby.

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

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

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou knowest not the work of God who maketh all.

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

but if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many: all that cometh is vanity.

Rejoice, young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows are darkened,

The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words; and that which was written is upright, words of truth.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; For thy love is better than wine.

Draw me, we will run after thee! The king hath brought me into his chambers We will be glad and rejoice in thee, We will remember thy love more than wine. They love thee uprightly.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

Take us the foxes, The little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in bloom.

The watchmen that go about the city found me: Have ye seen him whom my soul loveth?

Scarcely had I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, Until I had brought him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

Who is this, she that cometh up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant? ...

How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the fragrance of thine ointments than all spices!

Awake, north wind, and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow forth. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat its precious fruits.

The watchmen that went about the city found me; They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, ... What will ye tell him? That I am sick of love.

What is thy beloved more than another beloved, Thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so charge us?

My dove, mine undefiled, is but one; She is the only one of her mother, She is the choice one of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and they called her blessed; The queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

Who is she that looketh forth as the dawn, Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, Terrible as troops with banners?

Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may look upon thee. What would ye look upon in the Shulamite? As it were the dance of two camps.

And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine, ... That goeth down smoothly for my beloved, And stealeth over the lips of them that are asleep.

Oh that thou wert as my brother, That sucked the breasts of my mother! Should I find thee without, I would kiss thee; And they would not despise me.

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I awoke thee under the apple-tree: There thy mother brought thee forth; There she brought thee forth that bore thee.

I am a wall, and my breasts like towers; Then was I in his eyes as one that findeth peace.

Thou that dwellest in the gardens, The companions hearken to thy voice: Let me hear it.

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that corrupt themselves! They have forsaken Jehovah; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they are turned away backward.

Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and they that return of her with righteousness.

But the ruin of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together; and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed.

For they shall be ashamed of the terebinths that ye have desired, and ye shall blush for the gardens that ye have chosen.

For ye shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow unto it.

And their land is full of idols; they bow themselves down to the work of their own hands, to that which their fingers have made.

The lofty eyes of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.

and upon all the lofty mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up;

And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day:

In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made each for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

he will lift up his hand in that day, saying, I cannot be a healer, and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; ye shall not make me a chief of the people.

Say ye of the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people! they that guide thee mislead thee, and destroy the way of thy paths.

Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their princes, saying: It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the afflicted? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

In that day the Lord will take away the ornament of anklets, and the little suns and crescents,

And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, Our own bread will we eat, and with our own garments will we be clothed; only let us be called by thy name; take away our reproach!

In that day there shall be a sprout of Jehovah for beauty and glory, and the fruit of the earth for excellency and for ornament for those that are escaped of Israel.

And it shall come to pass that he who remaineth in Zion, and he that is left in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem;

And he dug it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine; and he built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

What was there yet to do to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? --