Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.

The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one fate happens to them all.

Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how does the wise man die? as the fool.

Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and like grasping the wind.

Yea, I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun: because I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

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

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

For God gives to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping up, only that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping of the wind.

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

What profit has he that works in that in which he labors?

He has made every thing beautiful in its time: also he has put eternity in men's hearts, so that no man can find out the work that God does from the beginning to the end.

I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.

I know that, whatsoever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God does it, that men should fear before him.

That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and God requires that which is past.

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

I said in my heart concerning the condition of the sons of men, that God might reveal them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; the same thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man has no advantage over a beast: for all is vanity.

Who knows the spirit of man that goes upward, and the spirit of the beast that goes downward to the earth?

Therefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his lot: for who can bring him to see what shall be after him?

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

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

Again, I considered all toil, and every skillful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This is also vanity and grasping after the wind.

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

For out of prison he comes to reign; yet he that is born in his kingdom might become poor.

I considered all the living who walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his place.

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

Guard your steps when you go 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.

When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed.

Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.

Permit not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say before the angel, that it was an error: why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

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

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: so what good is there to the owners, except the beholding of them with their eyes?

And this also is a great evil, that just as he came, so shall he go: and what profit has he who has labored for the wind?

Behold that which I have seen: it is good and fitting for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he takes under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for this is his lot.

A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him not power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also that he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn birth is better than he.

Whatever has been is named already, and it is known that this is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better?

It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

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

Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.

For wisdom is a defense, and money is a defense: but the excellence of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to them that have it.

Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing that will come after him.

All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness.

It is good that you should take hold of this; yea, also from this withhold not your hand: for he that fears God shall come forth of them all.

For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not.

Also take not to heart all words that are spoken; lest you hear your servant curse you:

For oftentimes also your own heart knows that you yourself likewise have cursed others.

That which is far off, and exceedingly deep, who can find it out?

Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many devices.

I counsel you to keep the king's commandment, and that for the sake of your oath to God.

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

There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither has he power in the day of death: and there is no release from 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 in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, who fear before him:

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

Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives 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 one who neither day nor night sees 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 labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover; though a wise man thinks to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knows either love or hatred by all that 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 sacrifices, and to him that sacrifices not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that swears, as he that fears an oath.

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they 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 any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun.

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of the life of your vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity: for that is your portion in this life, and in your labor which you perform 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 men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.

For man also knows not his time: as the fish 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 falls suddenly upon them.

Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

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

Dead flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to send forth a foul odor: so does a little folly to him that is respected for wisdom and honor.

Yea also, when he that is a fool walks by the way, his wisdom fails him, and he says to every one that he is a fool.

He that digs a pit shall fall into it; and whosoever breaks through a wall, a serpent shall bite him.

Whosoever quarries stones may be hurt by them; and he that splits wood shall be endangered by it.

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

He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.

As you know not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so you know not the works of God who makes all.

In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both alike shall be good.

But if a man lives many years, and rejoices in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

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

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

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets:

The preacher sought to find acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you make your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of your companions?

I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you stir not up, nor awake love, till it pleases.

Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw you him whom my soul loves?

It was but a little after I passed by them, when I found him whom my soul loves: 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, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, that you stir not up, nor awake my love, till it pleases.

Who is this that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of the merchant?

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; every one of which bears twins, and none is barren among them.

Awake, O north wind; and come, you south; blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat its pleasant fruits.

I sleep, but my heart wakes: it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

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

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him, that I am sick with love.

What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women? what is your beloved more than another beloved, that you so charge us?

Where has your beloved gone, O you fairest among women? where has your beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with you.