All that thy hand findeth to do, with thy power do, for there is no work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom in Sheol whither thou art going.

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.

Dead flies cause a perfumer's perfume To send forth a stink; The precious by reason of wisdom -- By reason of honour -- a little folly!

And also, when he that is a fool Is walking in the way, his heart is lacking, And he hath said to every one, 'He is a fool.'

He hath set the fool in many high places, And the rich in a low place do sit.

If the iron hath been blunt, And he the face hath not sharpened, Then doth he increase strength, And wisdom is advantageous to make right.

If the serpent biteth without enchantment, Then there is no advantage to a master of the tongue.

And the fool multiplieth words: 'Man knoweth not that which is, And that which is after him, who doth declare to him?'

The labour of the foolish wearieth him, In that he hath not known to go unto the city.

Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a youth, And thy princes do eat in the morning.

Happy art thou, O land, When thy king is a son of freemen, And thy princes do eat in due season, For might, and not for drunkenness.

Even in thy mind a king revile not, And in the inner parts of thy bed-chamber Revile not the rich: For a fowl of the heavens causeth the voice to go, And a possessor of wings declareth the word.

Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, For thou knowest not what evil is on the earth.

If the thick clouds are full of rain, On the earth they empty themselves; And if a tree doth fall in the south or to the north, The place where the tree falleth, there it is.

Sweet also is the light, And good for the eyes to see the sun.

And turn aside anger from thy heart, And cause evil to pass from thy flesh, For the childhood and the age are vanity!

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 the dust returneth to the earth as it was, And the spirit returneth to God who gave it.

The preacher sought to find out pleasing words, and, written by the upright, words of truth.

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!

Declare to me, thou whom my soul hath loved, Where thou delightest, Where thou liest down at noon, For why am I as one veiled, By the ranks of thy companions?

To my joyous one in chariots of Pharaoh, I have compared thee, my friend,

Garlands of gold we do make for thee, With studs of silver!

A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, Between my breasts it lodgeth.

A cluster of cypress is my beloved to me, In the vineyards of En-Gedi!

As a citron among trees of the forest, So is my beloved among the sons, In his shade I delighted, and sat down, And his fruit is sweet to my palate.

My beloved is like to a roe, Or to a young one of the harts. Lo, this -- he is standing behind our wall, Looking from the windows, Blooming from the lattice.

My beloved hath answered and said to me, 'Rise up, my friend, my fair one, and come away,

My dove, in clefts of the rock, In a secret place of the ascent, Cause me to see thine appearance, Cause me to hear thy voice, For thy voice is sweet, and thy appearance comely.

Till the day doth break forth, And the shadows have fled away, Turn, be like, my beloved, To a roe, or to a young one of the harts, On the mountains of separation!

Go forth, and look, ye daughters of Zion, On king Solomon, with the crown, With which his mother crowned him, In the day of his espousals, And in the day of the joy of his heart!

Thy two breasts are as two fawns, Twins of a roe, that are feeding among lilies.

Till the day doth break forth, And the shadows have fled away, I will get me unto the mountain of myrrh, And unto the hill of frankincense.

Awake, O north wind, and come, O south, Cause my garden to breathe forth, its spices let flow, Let my beloved come to his garden, And eat its pleasant fruits!

I have come in to my garden, my sister-spouse, I have plucked my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my comb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved ones!

I am sleeping, but my heart waketh: The sound of my beloved knocking! 'Open to me, my sister, my friend, My dove, my perfect one, For my head is filled with dew, My locks with drops of the night.'

I have put off my coat, how do I put it on? I have washed my feet, how do I defile them?

I rose to open to my beloved, And my hands dropped myrrh, Yea, my fingers flowing myrrh, On the handles of the lock.

I opened to my beloved, But my beloved withdrew -- he passed on, My soul went forth when he spake, I sought him, and found him not. I called him, and he answered me not.

I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved -- What do ye tell him? that I am sick with love!

My beloved went down to his garden, To the beds of the spice, To delight himself in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

Unto a garden of nuts I went down, To look on the buds of the valley, To see whither the vine had flourished, The pomegranates had blossomed --

Return, return, O Shulammith! Return, return, and we look upon thee. What do ye see in Shulammith?

Thy two breasts as two young ones, twins of a roe,

Thy neck as a tower of the ivory, Thine eyes pools in Heshbon, near the gate of Bath-Rabbim, Thy face as a tower of Lebanon looking to Damascus,

This thy stature hath been like to a palm, And thy breasts to clusters.

And thy palate as the good wine -- 'Flowing to my beloved in uprightness, Strengthening the lips of the aged!

Come, my beloved, we go forth to the field,

We lodge in the villages, we go early to the vineyards, We see if the vine hath flourished, The sweet smelling-flower hath opened. The pomegranates have blossomed, There do I give to thee my loves;

Who doth make thee as a brother to me, Sucking the breasts of my mother? I find thee without, I kiss thee, Yea, they do not despise me,

I lead thee, I bring thee in unto my mother's house, She doth teach me, I cause thee to drink of the perfumed wine, Of the juice of my pomegranate,

Many waters are not able to quench the love, And floods do not wash it away. If one give all the wealth of his house for love, Treading down -- they tread upon it.

We have a little sister, and breasts she hath not, What do we do for our sister, In the day that it is told of her?

Solomon hath a vineyard in Baal-Hamon, He hath given the vineyard to keepers, Each bringeth for its fruit a thousand silverlings;

My vineyard -- my own -- is before me, The thousand is for thee, O Solomon. And the two hundred for those keeping its fruit. O dweller in gardens!

The companions are attending to thy voice, Cause me to hear. Flee, my beloved, and be like to a roe,

Or to a young one of the harts on mountains of spices!

Wherefore are ye stricken any more? Ye do add apostasy! Every head is become diseased, and every heart is sick.

Unless Jehovah of Hosts had left to us a remnant, Shortly -- as Sodom we had been, To Gomorrah we had been like!

Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom, Give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah,

Why to Me the abundance of your sacrifices? saith Jehovah, I have been satiated with burnt-offerings of rams, And fat of fatlings; And blood of bullocks, and lambs, And he-goats I have not desired.

When ye come in to appear before Me, Who hath required this of your hand, To trample My courts?

Add not to bring in a vain present, Incense -- an abomination it is to Me, New moon, and sabbath, calling of convocation! Rendure not iniquity -- and a restraint!

And in your spreading forth your hands, I hide mine eyes from you, Also when ye increase prayer, I do not hear, Your hands of blood have been full.

Wash ye, make ye pure, Turn aside the evil of your doings, from before Mine eyes, Cease to do evil, learn to do good.

Thy princes are apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them.

And the strong hath been for tow, And his work for a spark, And burned have both of them together, And there is none quenching!

And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, Established is the mount of Jehovah's house, Above the top of the mounts, And it hath been lifted up above the heights, And flowed unto it have all the nations.

And He hath judged between the nations, And hath given a decision to many peoples, And they have beat their swords to ploughshares, And their spears to pruning-hooks, Nation doth not lift up sword unto nation, Nor do they learn any more -- war.

And its land is full of silver and gold, And there is no end to its treasures, And its land is full of horses, And there is no end to its chariots,

And its land is full of idols, To the work of its hands it boweth itself, To that which its fingers have made,

The haughty eyes of man have been humbled, And bowed down hath been the loftiness of men, And set on high hath Jehovah alone been in that day.

For a day is to Jehovah of Hosts, For every proud and high one, And for every lifted up and low one,

And bowed down hath been the haughtiness of man, And humbled the loftiness of men, And set on high hath Jehovah alone been in that day.

And men have entered into caverns of rocks, And into caves of dust, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency, In His rising to terrify the earth.

In that day doth man cast his idols of silver, And his idols of gold, That they have made for him to worship, To moles, and to bats,

To enter into cavities of the rocks, And into clefts of the high places, Because of the fear of Jehovah, And because of the honour of His excellency, In His rising to terrify the earth.

And the people hath exacted -- man upon man, Even a man on his neighbour, Enlarge themselves do the youths against the aged, And the lightly esteemed against the honoured.

When one layeth hold on his brother, Of the house of his father, by the garment, 'Come, a ruler thou art to us, And this ruin is under thy hand.'

He lifteth up, in that day, saying: 'I am not a binder up, And in my house is neither bread nor garment, Ye do not make me a ruler of the people.'

For stumbled hath Jerusalem, and Judah hath fallen, For their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, To provoke the eyes of His glory.

The appearance of their faces witnessed against them, And their sin, as Sodom, they declared, They have not hidden! Woe to their soul, For they have done to themselves evil.

Say ye to the righteous, that it is good, Because the fruit of their doings they eat.

Woe to the wicked -- evil, Because the deed of his hand is done to him.

My people -- its exactors are sucklings, And women have ruled over it. My people -- thy eulogists are causing to err, And the way of thy paths swallowed up.

Jehovah hath stood up to plead, And He is standing to judge the peoples.

What -- to you? ye bruise My people, And the faces of the poor ye grind.' An affirmation of the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, And Jehovah saith:

In that day doth the Lord turn aside The beauty of the tinkling ornaments, And of the embroidered works, And of the round tires like moons,

For instead of glory, thy men by sword do fall, And thy might in battle.

And taken hold have seven women on one man, In that day, saying, 'Our own bread we do eat, And our own raiment we put on, Only, let thy name be called over us, Remove thou our reproach.'

In that day is the Shoot of Jehovah for desire and for honour, And the fruit of the earth For excellence and for beauty to the escaped of Israel.

Then hath Jehovah prepared Over every fixed place of Mount Zion, And over her convocations, A cloud by day, and smoke, And the shining of a flaming fire by night, That, over all honour a safe-guard,

And a covering may be, For a shadow by day from drought, And for a refuge, and for a hiding place, From inundation and from rain!

Let me sing, I pray you, for my beloved, A song of my beloved as to his vineyard: My beloved hath a vineyard in a fruitful hill,

What -- to do still to my vineyard, That I have not done in it! Wherefore, I waited to the yielding of grapes, And it yieldeth bad ones!

And now, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.

Woe to those joining house to house, Field to field they bring near, till there is no place, And ye have been settled by yourselves In the midst of the land!

By the weapons of Jehovah of Hosts Do not many houses a desolation become? Great and good without inhabitant!

For ten acres of vineyard do yield one bath, And an homer of seed yieldeth an ephah.