² “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”^(C)

³ What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil under the sun?^(D)
4 Generations come and generations go,
    but the earth remains forever.^(E)
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
    and hurries back to where it rises.^(F)
6 The wind blows to the south
    and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
    ever returning on its course.
⁷ All streams flow into the sea,
    yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
    there they return again.^(G)
8 All things are wearisome,
    more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,^(H)
    nor the ear its fill of hearing.
⁹ What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;^(I)
    there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
    “Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
    it was here before our time.
¹¹ No one remembers the former generations,^(J)
    and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
    by those who follow them.^(K)

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be straightened;^(Q)
    what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁸ For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;^(U)
    the more knowledge, the more grief.^(V)

⁷ Extortion turns a wise person into a fool,
    and a bribe^(J) corrupts the heart.

⁸ The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
    and patience^(K) is better than pride.
⁹ Do not be quickly provoked^(L) in your spirit,
    for anger resides in the lap of fools.^(M)

¹⁰ Do not say, “Why were the old days^(N) better than these?”
    For it is not wise to ask such questions.

¹¹ Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing^(O)
    and benefits those who see the sun.^(P)
12 Wisdom is a shelter
    as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
    Wisdom preserves those who have it.

Who can straighten
    what he has made crooked?^(R)
14 When times are good, be happy;
    but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one
    as well as the other.^(S)
Therefore, no one can discover
    anything about their future.

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.^(U)
16 Do not be overrighteous,
    neither be overwise—
    why destroy yourself?
¹⁷ Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool—
    why die before your time?^(V)
18 It is good to grasp the one
    and not let go of the other.
    Whoever fears God^(W) will avoid all extremes.^[a]

¹⁹ Wisdom^(X) makes one wise person more powerful^(Y)
    than ten rulers in a city.

²⁰ Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,^(Z)
    no one who does what is right and never sins.^(AA)

²¹ Do not pay attention to every word people say,
    or you^(AB) may hear your servant cursing you—
²² for you know in your heart
    that many times you yourself have cursed others.

“I am determined to be wise”^(AC)—
    but this was beyond me.
²⁴ Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
    who can discover it?^(AD)
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things^(AE)
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.^(AF)

²⁶ I find more bitter than death
    the woman who is a snare,^(AG)
whose heart is a trap
    and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
    but the sinner she will ensnare.^(AH)

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
²⁸     while I was still searching
    but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
    but not one upright woman^(AJ) among them all.
²⁹ This only have I found:
    God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

³ If clouds are full of water,
    they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
⁴ Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

⁵ As you do not know the path of the wind,^(C)
    or how the body is formed^[a] in a mother’s womb,^(D)
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.

⁶ Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,^(E)
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.

⁹ You who are young, be happy while you are young,
    and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart
    and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
    God will bring you into judgment.^(H)
10 So then, banish anxiety^(I) from your heart
    and cast off the troubles of your body,
    for youth and vigor are meaningless.^(J)

12 Remember^(A) your Creator
    in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble^(B) come
    and the years approach when you will say,
    “I find no pleasure in them”—
² before the sun and the light
    and the moon and the stars grow dark,
    and the clouds return after the rain;
³ when the keepers of the house tremble,
    and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
    and those looking through the windows grow dim;
⁴ when the doors to the street are closed
    and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
    but all their songs grow faint;^(C)
5 when people are afraid of heights
    and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
    and the grasshopper drags itself along
    and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home^(D)
    and mourners^(E) go about the streets.

⁶ Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
    and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
    and the wheel broken at the well,
⁷ and the dust returns^(F) to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God^(G) who gave it.^(H)

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.^[a](I)
    “Everything is meaningless!^(J)”

¹³ Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God^(P) and keep his commandments,^(Q)
    for this is the duty of all mankind.^(R)
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,^(S)
    including every hidden thing,^(T)
    whether it is good or evil.