Ecclesiastes 1:2–12:8

²“^1aVanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,

“Vanity of vanities! All is ²vanity.”

^3aWhat advantage does man have in all his work

Which he does under the sun?

⁴A generation goes and a generation comes,

But the ^aearth ¹remains forever.

⁵Also, ^athe sun rises and the sun sets;

And ¹hastening to its place it rises there again.

^61aBlowing toward the south,

Then turning toward the north,

The wind continues ²swirling along;

And on its circular courses the wind returns.

⁷All the rivers ¹flow into the sea,

Yet the sea is not full.

To the place where the rivers flow,

There they flow again.

⁸All things are wearisome;

Man is not able to tell it.

^aThe eye is not satisfied with seeing,

Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

^9aThat which has been is that which will be,

And that which has been done is that which will be done.

So there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there anything of which one might say,

“See this, it is new”?

Already it has existed for ages

Which were before us.

¹¹There is ^ano remembrance of ¹earlier things;

And also of the ²later things which will occur,

There will be for them no remembrance

Among those who will come later still.

The Futility of Wisdom

¹²I, the ^aPreacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³And I ^aset my ¹mind to seek and ^bexplore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is ²a grievous ^ctask which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

¹⁴I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is ^1avanity and striving after wind.

¹⁵What is ^acrooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I ¹said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased ^awisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my ²mind has observed ³a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

¹⁷And I ^aset my ¹mind to know wisdom and to ^bknow madness and folly; I realized that this also is ^cstriving after wind.

¹⁸Because ^ain much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

Chapter 2

The Futility of Pleasure and Possessions

¹I said ¹to myself, “Come now, I will test you with ^apleasure. So ²enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility.

^2aI said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

³I explored with my ¹mind how to ^astimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of ^bfolly, until I could see ^cwhat good there is for the sons of men ²to do under heaven the few ³years of their lives.

⁴I enlarged my works: I ^abuilt houses for myself, I planted ^bvineyards for myself;

⁵I made ^agardens and ^bparks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

⁶I made ^aponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.

⁷I bought male and female slaves and I had ^1ahomeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and ^bherds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.

⁸Also, I collected for myself silver and ^agold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself ^bmale and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines.

⁹Then I became ^agreat and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.

^10aAll that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my ^breward for all my labor.

¹¹Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had ¹exerted, and behold all was ^2avanity and striving after wind and there was ^bno profit under the sun.

Wisdom Excels Folly

¹²So I turned to ^aconsider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except ^bwhat has already been done?

¹³And I saw that ^awisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the ^afool walks in darkness. And yet I know that ^bone fate befalls them both.

¹⁵Then I said ¹to myself, “^aAs is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. ^bWhy then have I been extremely wise?” So ²I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”

¹⁶For there is ^ano ¹lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And ^bhow the wise man and the fool alike die!

¹⁷So I ^ahated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was ¹grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

The Futility of Labor

¹⁸Thus I hated ^aall the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must ^bleave it to the man who will come after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether he will be a wise man or ^aa fool? Yet he will have ¹control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is ^bvanity.

²⁰Therefore I ¹completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

²¹When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and ^askill, then he ^bgives his ¹legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.

²²For what does a man get in ^aall his labor and in ¹his striving with which he labors under the sun?

²³Because all his days his task is painful and ^agrievous; even at night his ¹mind ^bdoes not rest. This too is vanity.

²⁴There is ^anothing better for a man than to eat and drink and ¹tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is ^bfrom the hand of God.

²⁵For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without ¹Him?

²⁶For to a person who is good in His sight ^aHe has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may ^bgive to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is ^cvanity and striving after wind.

Chapter 3

A Time for Everything

¹There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a ^atime for every ¹event under heaven—

²A time to give birth and a ^atime to die;

A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.

³A ^atime to kill and a time to heal;

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

⁴A time to ^aweep and a time to ^blaugh;

A time to mourn and a time to ^cdance.

⁵A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;

A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

⁶A time to search and a time to give up as lost;

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

⁷A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;

A time to ^abe silent and a time to speak.

⁸A time to love and a time to ^ahate;

A time for war and a time for peace.

^9aWhat profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?

¹⁰I have seen the ^atask which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

God Set Eternity in the Heart of Man

¹¹He has ^amade everything ¹appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, ²yet so that man ^bwill not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

¹²I know that there is ^anothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime;

¹³moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the ^agift of God.

¹⁴I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should ^1afear Him.

¹⁵That ^awhich is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.

¹⁶Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is ^awickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

¹⁷I said ¹to myself, “^aGod will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a ^btime for every ²matter and for every deed is there.

¹⁸I said ¹to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but ^abeasts.”

^19aFor the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts ¹is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is ²vanity.

²⁰All go to the same place. All came from the ^adust and all return to the dust.

²¹Who knows that the ^abreath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth?

²²I have seen that ^anothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see ^bwhat will occur after him?

Chapter 4

The Evils of Oppression

¹Then I looked again at all the acts of ^aoppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had ^bno one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.

²So ^aI congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.

³But ^abetter off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

⁴I have seen that every labor and every ^askill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is ^1bvanity and striving after wind.

⁵The fool ^afolds his hands and ^bconsumes his own flesh.

⁶One hand full of rest is ^abetter than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

⁷Then I looked again at vanity under the sun.

⁸There was a certain man without a ¹dependent, having neither a son nor a brother, yet there was no end to all his labor. Indeed, ^ahis eyes were not satisfied with riches and he never asked, “And ^bfor whom am I laboring and depriving myself of pleasure?” This too is vanity and it is a ^cgrievous task.

⁹Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.

¹⁰For if ¹either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not ²another to lift him up.

¹¹Furthermore, if two lie down together they ¹keep warm, but ^ahow can one be warm alone?

¹²And if ¹one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

¹³A ^apoor yet wise lad is better than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to receive ¹…