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

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness; and I also knew that one event happens to all of them.

For all his days are sorrows, and his labor sadness; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This is also vanity.

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

All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all return to dust again.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold the tears of the oppressed ones, and they had no comforter! And on the side of those who oppressed them there was power, but they had no comforter.

And I commended the dead who already have died, more than the living who are living now.

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he has neither son nor brother; yet there is no end to all his labor; and his eyes are not satisfied with riches; and he says, For whom do I labor and take good from my soul? This is also vanity. Yes, it is an evil business.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.

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 do not know that they are doing evil.

Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart be hasty to say a word before God. For God is in Heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not marvel at the matter. For He who is higher than the highest watches; and there are some higher than they.

If a man fathers a hundred, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also is for him no burial; I say, a miscarriage is better than he.

For there are many things that increase vanity, and what is man the better?

Wisdom makes the wise stronger than ten mighty ones who are in the city.

Also do not listen to all words that are spoken; lest you hear your servant curse you.

Because the word of a king is that which has power; and who may say to him, What are you doing?

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

For all this I took to heart, even to make all this clear, 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 to 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 man also does not know 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 falls suddenly on them.

And I said, 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 who rules among fools.

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

Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your leaders eat in due time, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

If the clouds are full of rain, they empty on 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.

Therefore remove vexation from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for childhood and prime of life are vanity.

So long as the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, are darkened, or the clouds return after rain,

in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men are bowed, and the grinders cease because there are few, and those who look out of the windows are darkened,

and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and you shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music are silenced;

also they are afraid of the high place, and terrors along the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets;

The words of the wise are like goads; yes, their collected words are like nails driven home; they are given from one Shepherd.