Ecclesiastes 1:2–12:8

²Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,

vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

³What does man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

⁴A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth remains for ever.

⁵The sun rises and the sun goes down,

and hastens to the place where it rises.

⁶The wind blows to the south,

and goes round to the north;

round and round goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

⁷All streams 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;

the eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

⁹What 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 already,

in the ages before us.

¹¹There is no remembrance of former things,

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things yet to happen

among those who come after.

¹²I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. ¹⁴I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁵What is crooked cannot be made straight,

and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

¹⁶I said to myself, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

¹⁸For in much wisdom is much vexation,

and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Chapter 2

¹I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. ²I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; ⁵I made myself gardens 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 slaves who were born in my house; I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, man’s delight.

⁹So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. ¹¹Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

¹²So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what he has already done. ¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. ¹⁴The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that one fate comes to all of them. ¹⁵Then I said to myself, “What befalls the fool will befall me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity. ¹⁶For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise man dies just like the fool! ¹⁷So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁸I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me; ¹⁹and who knows whether he will be a wise man 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 turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; ²⁵for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Chapter 3

¹For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

²a time to be born, and a time to die;

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 weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

⁹What gain has the worker from his toil?

¹⁰I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man’s mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; ¹³also that it is God’s gift to man that every one should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. ¹⁴I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him. ¹⁵That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.

¹⁶Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. ¹⁷I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work. ¹⁸I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God is testing them to show them that they are but beasts. ¹⁹For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of 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. ²⁰All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. ²¹Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth? ²²So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should enjoy his work, for that is his lot; who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Chapter 4

¹Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power, and there was no one to comfort them. ²And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive; ³but better 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 vanity and a striving after wind.

⁵The fool folds his hands, and eats his own flesh.

⁶Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

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

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 are warm; but how can one be 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 is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who will no longer take advice, ¹⁴even though he had gone from prison to the throne or in his own kingdom had been born poor. ¹⁵I saw all the living who move about under the sun, as well as that youth, who was to stand in his place; ¹⁶there was no end of all the people; he was over all of them. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Chapter 5

¹Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. ²Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.

³For a dream comes with much business, and a…