Ecclesiastes 1–12

All Is Vanity

1The words of ^athe Preacher,¹ the son of David, ^bking in Jerusalem.

^2cVanity² of vanities, says ^athe Preacher,

^cvanity of vanities! ^dAll is vanity.

^3eWhat ^fdoes man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

⁴A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but ^gthe earth remains forever.

^5hThe sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens³ to the place where it rises.

⁶ⁱThe wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

⁷All ^jstreams run to the sea,

but the sea is not full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

⁸All things are full of weariness;

a man cannot utter it;

^kthe eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

^9lWhat has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there a thing of which it is said,

“See, this is new”?

It has been ^malready

in the ages before us.

¹¹There is no ⁿremembrance of former things,⁴

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things⁵ yet to be

among those who come after.

The Vanity of Wisdom

¹²I ^othe Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I ^papplied my heart⁶ to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy ^qbusiness that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹⁴I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is ^rvanity⁷ and a striving after wind.⁸

^15sWhat is crooked cannot be made straight,

and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said in my heart, “I have acquired great ^twisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷And I ^uapplied my heart to know wisdom and to know ^vmadness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ^ra striving after wind.

¹⁸For ^win much wisdom is much vexation,

and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

2I ^xsaid in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.^{1 2}I ^ysaid of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³I ^zsearched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^afolly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴I made great works. I ^bbuilt houses and planted ^cvineyards for myself. ⁵I made myself ^dgardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷I bought male and female slaves, and had ^eslaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of ^fherds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and ^ggold and the treasure of ^hkings and ⁱprovinces. I got ^jsingers, both men and women, and many ^kconcubines,² the delight of the sons of man.

⁹So I became great and ^lsurpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my ^lwisdom remained with me. ¹⁰And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart ^mfound pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ⁿreward for all my toil. ¹¹Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^ovanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^pto be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

^12qSo I turned to consider ^rwisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^swhat has already been done. ¹³Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ^14tThe wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^usame event happens to all of them. ¹⁵Then I said in my heart, ^v“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. ¹⁶For of the wise as of the fool there is ^wno enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^xHow the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^oall is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸I hated ^yall my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^zleave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰So I ^aturned about and gave my heart up to despair ^bover all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²What has a man from ^call the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³For ^dall his days are full of sorrow, and his ^ework is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

^24fThere is nothing better for a person than that he should ^geat and drink and find enjoyment³ in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^hfrom the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him⁴ who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him ⁱGod has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^ethe business of gathering and collecting, ^jonly to give to one who pleases God. ^kThis also is vanity and a striving after wind.

A Time for Everything

3For everything there is a season, and ^la time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to be born, and a time to ^mdie;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

³a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴a time to ⁿweep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to ^odance;

⁵a time to ^pcast away stones, and a time to ^qgather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to ^rrefrain from embracing;

⁶a time to seek, and a time to ^slose;

a time to keep, and a time to ^tcast away;

⁷a time to ^utear, and a time to sew;

a time to ^vkeep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸a time to love, and a time to ^whate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

⁹What ^xgain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰I have seen ^ythe business that ^zGod has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹He has ^amade everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot ^bfind out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I perceived that there is ^cnothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^ddo good as long as they live; ¹³also ^ethat everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is ^fGod’s gift to man.

¹⁴I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; ^gnothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. ¹⁵That which is, ^halready has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God ⁱseeks what has been driven away.¹

From Dust to Dust

¹⁶Moreover, ^jI saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even ^kthere was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. ¹⁷I said in my heart, ^lGod will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is ^ma time for every matter and for every work. ¹⁸I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but ⁿbeasts. ^19oFor what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.^{2 20}All go to one place. All are from ^pthe dust, and to dust all return. ²¹Who knows whether ^qthe spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? ²²So I saw that there is ^rnothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for ^sthat is his lot. Who can bring him to see ^twhat will be after him?

Evil Under the Sun

4^uAgain I ^vsaw all ^wthe oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had ^xno one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. ²And I ^ythought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive. ³But ^zbetter than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

⁴Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is ^avanity¹ and a striving after wind.

⁵The fool ^bfolds his hands and ^ceats his own flesh.

^6dBetter is a handful of ^equietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

^7uAgain, I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his ^feyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ^g“For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy ^hbusiness.

⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! ¹¹Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, ⁱbut how can one keep warm alone? ¹²And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³Better was ^ja poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knew how ^kto take advice. ¹⁴For he went ^lfrom prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor. ¹⁵I saw all the living who move about under the sun, along with that² youth who was to stand in the king’s³ place. ¹⁶There was no end of all the people, all…