If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter: for the high official is watched by a higher one; and there are yet higher ones over them.

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?

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

But those riches are lost by a bad venture: when he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.

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.

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

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

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

Be not overly wicked, neither be foolish: why should you die before your time?

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.

Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men who are in the city.

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.

And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are fetters: whosoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.

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

Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What are you doing?

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.

And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

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:

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

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.

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.

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.

Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God now accepts your works.

Let your garments be always white; and let your head lack no ointment.

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.

Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.

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.

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

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

Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroys much good.

If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, leave not your post; for yielding pacifies great offences.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow him up.

Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning!

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

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.

Cast your bread upon the waters: for you shall find it after many days.

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall be.

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.

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.

Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw near, when you shall 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:

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:

Before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails firmly fixed by the masters of assemblies, which are given by one shepherd.

For God shall bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for your love is better than wine.

Because of the fragrance of your good ointments your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love you.

Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in you, we will remember your love more than wine: the upright love you.

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

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?

If you know not, O you fairest among women, go your way forth in the footsteps of the flock, and feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents.

Your cheeks are lovely with rows of jewels, your neck with chains of gold.

Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes.

Behold, you are handsome, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.

The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

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.

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag: behold, he stands behind our wall, he looks forth through the windows, showing himself through the lattice.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land;

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice, and your countenance is lovely.

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

Until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bether.

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.

Behold the couch, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man has his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes behind your veil: your hair is like a flock of goats, going down from mount Gilead.

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.

Your lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely: your temples are like a piece of pomegranate behind your veil.

Your neck is like the tower of David built for an armory, on which there hang a thousand shields, all shields of mighty men.

Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies.

You are all fair, my love; there is no spot in you.

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; you have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is your love than wine! and the fragrance of your perfume than all spices!

Your lips, O my spouse, drop like the honeycomb: honey and milk are under your tongue; and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; henna, with spikenard,

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?

His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are wavy, and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

His cheeks are like a bed of spices, like sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dripping sweet smelling myrrh.

His arms are as rounded gold set with beryl: his body is as carved ivory overlaid with sapphires.

His legs are pillars of marble, set upon bases of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

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

You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me: your hair is as a flock of goats going down from Gilead.

Your teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them.

As a piece of a pomegranate are your temples behind your veil.

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the blossoms of the valley, and to see whether the vine had budded, and the pomegranates were in bloom.

How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince's daughter! the curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful craftsman.

Your navel is like a round goblet, which lacks not blended drink: your belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a gazelle.

Your neck is as a tower of ivory; your eyes like the pools of Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: your nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.

Your head crowns you like Carmel, and the hair of your head is like purple; the king is held captive by your tresses.

How fair and how pleasant are you, O love, for your delights!

This your stature is like to a palm tree, and your breasts to its clusters.

I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of its branches: may also your breasts be as clusters of the vine, and the fragrance of your breath like apples;

And the roof of your mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goes down sweetly, flowing gently over lips and teeth.

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and the pomegranates are in bloom: there will I give you my loves.