31 The words of Lemuel king of Massa, which his mother taught him:

² What, my ^[a]son? What, son of my womb? What [shall I advise you], son of my vows and dedication to God?

³ Give not your strength to [loose] women, nor your ways to those who and that which ruin and destroy kings.

⁴ It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong drink,^(A)

⁵ Lest they drink and forget the law and what it decrees, and pervert the justice due any of the afflicted.

⁶ Give strong drink [as medicine] to him who is ready to pass away, and wine to him in bitter distress of heart.

⁷ Let him drink and forget his poverty and [seriously] remember his want and misery no more.

⁸ Open your mouth for the dumb [those unable to speak for themselves], for the rights of all who are left desolate and defenseless;^(B)

⁹ Open your mouth, judge righteously, and administer justice for the poor and needy.^(C)

¹⁰ A capable, intelligent, and ^[b]virtuous woman—who is he who can find her? She is far more precious than jewels and her value is far above rubies or pearls.^(D)

¹¹ The heart of her husband trusts in her confidently and relies on and believes in her securely, so that he has no lack of [honest] gain or need of [dishonest] spoil.

¹² She comforts, encourages, and does him only good as long as there is life within her.

¹³ She seeks out wool and flax and works with willing hands [to develop it].

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships loaded with foodstuffs; she brings her household’s food from a far [country].

¹⁵ She rises while it is yet night and gets [spiritual] food for her household and assigns her maids their tasks.^(E)

¹⁶ She considers a [new] field before she buys or accepts it [expanding prudently and not courting neglect of her present duties by assuming other duties]; with her savings [of time and strength] she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard.^(F)

¹⁷ She girds herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] and makes her arms strong and firm.

¹⁸ She tastes and sees that her gain from work [with and for God] is good; her lamp goes not out, but it burns on continually through the night [of trouble, privation, or sorrow, warning away fear, doubt, and distrust].

¹⁹ She lays her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.

²⁰ She opens her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her filled hands to the needy [whether in body, mind, or spirit].

²¹ She fears not the snow for her family, for all her household are doubly clothed in scarlet.^(G)

²² She makes for herself coverlets, cushions, and rugs of tapestry. Her clothing is of linen, pure and fine, and of purple [such as that of which the clothing of the priests and the hallowed cloths of the temple were made].^(H)

²³ Her husband is known in the [city’s] gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.^(I)

²⁴ She makes fine linen garments and leads others to buy them; she delivers to the merchants girdles [or sashes that free one up for service].

²⁵ Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure; she rejoices over the future [the latter day or time to come, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it]!

²⁶ She opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness [giving counsel and instruction].

²⁷ She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat.^(J)

²⁸ Her children rise up and call her blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied); and her husband boasts of and praises her, [saying],

^29 [c]Many daughters have done virtuously, nobly, and well [with the strength of character that is steadfast in goodness], but you excel them all.

³⁰ Charm and grace are deceptive, and beauty is vain [because it is not lasting], but a woman who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord, she shall be praised!

³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates [of the city]!^(K)

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David and king in Jerusalem.

² Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities, says the Preacher. Vapor of vapors and futility of futilities! All is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and vainglory).^(A)

³ What profit does man have left from all his toil at which he toils ^[a]under the sun? [Is life worth living?]

⁴ One generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth remains forever.^(B)

⁵ The sun also rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.

⁶ The wind goes to the south and circles about to the north; it circles and circles about continually, and on its circuit the wind returns again.^(C)

⁷ All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from which the rivers come, to there and from there they return again.

⁸ All things are weary with toil and all words are feeble; man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.^(D)

⁹ The thing that has been—it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been, in the vast ages of time [recorded or unrecorded] which were before us.

¹¹ There is no remembrance of former happenings or men, neither will there be any remembrance of happenings of generations that are to come by those who are to come after them.

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

¹³ And I applied myself by heart and mind to seek and search out by [human] ^[b]wisdom all human activity under heaven. It is a miserable business which ^[c]God has given to the sons of man with which to busy themselves.

¹⁴ I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind and a feeding on wind.

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is defective and lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶ I entered into counsel with my own mind, saying, Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom, yes, more than all who have been over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.

¹⁷ And I gave my mind to know [practical] wisdom and to discern [the character of] madness and folly [in which men seem to find satisfaction]; I perceived that this also is a searching after wind and a feeding on it.^(E)

¹⁸ For in much [human] wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

2 I said in my mind, Come now, I will prove you with mirth and test you with pleasure; so have a good time [enjoy pleasure]. But this also was vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!^(A)

² I said of laughter, It is mad, and of pleasure, What does it accomplish?

³ I searched in my mind how to cheer my body with wine—yet at the same time having my mind hold its course and guide me with [human] wisdom—and how to lay hold of folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

⁴ I made great works; I built myself houses, I planted vineyards.

⁵ I made for myself gardens and orchards and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

⁶ I made for myself pools of water from which to water the forest and make the trees bud.

⁷ I bought menservants and maidservants and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.

⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got for myself men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men—^[a]concubines very many.^(B)

⁹ So I became great and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me and stood by me.

¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion and reward for all my toil.

¹¹ Then I looked on all that my hands had done and the labor I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it, and there was no profit under the sun.^(C)

¹² So I turned to consider [human] wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who succeeds the king? Nothing but what has been done already.

¹³ Then I saw that even [human] wisdom [that brings sorrow] is better than [the pleasures of] folly as far as light is better than darkness.

¹⁴ The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that [in the end] one event happens to them both.^(D)

¹⁵ Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me. And of what use is it then for me to be more wise? Then I said in my heart, This also is vanity (emptiness, vainglory, and futility)!

¹⁶ For of the wise man, the same as of the fool, there is no permanent remembrance, since in the days to come all will be long forgotten. And how does the wise man die? Even as the fool!

¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

¹⁸ And I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will succeed me.^(E)

¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have dominion over all my labor in which I have toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

²⁰ So I turned around and gave my heart up to despair over all the labor of my efforts under the sun.

²¹ For here is a man whose labor is with wisdom and knowledge and skill; yet to a man who has not toiled for it he must leave it all as his portion. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a great evil!

²² For what has a man left from all his labor and from the striving and vexation of his heart in which he has toiled under the sun?

²³ For all his days are but pain and sorrow, and his work is a vexation and grief; his mind takes no rest even at night. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

²⁴ There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and make himself enjoy good in his labor. Even this, I have seen, is from the hand of God.

²⁵ For who can eat or who can have enjoyment any more than I can—^[b]apart from Him?

²⁶ For to the person who pleases Him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and heaping up, that he may give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

3 To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven:

² A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,^(A)

³ A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up,

⁴ A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

⁶ A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,

⁷ A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,^(B)

⁸ A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.^(C)

⁹ What profit remains for the worker from his toil?

¹⁰ I have seen the painful labor and exertion and miserable business which God has given to the sons of men with which to exercise and busy themselves.

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

¹² I know that there is nothing better for them than to be glad and to get and do good as long as they live;

¹³ And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

¹⁴ I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And God does it so that men will [reverently] fear Him [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is].^(D)

¹⁵ That which is now already has been, and that which is to be already has been; and God seeks that which has passed by [so that history repeats itself].

¹⁶ Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice there was wickedness, and that in the place of righteousness wickedness was there also.

¹⁷ I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time [appointed] for every matter and purpose and for every work.

¹⁸ I said in my heart regarding the subject of the sons of men, God is trying (separating and sifting) them, that they may see that by themselves [under the sun, without God] they are but like beasts.

¹⁹ For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even [in the end] one thing befalls them both. As the one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath and spirit, so that a ^[a]man has no preeminence over a beast; for all is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

²⁰ All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

²¹ Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?

²² So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him back to see what will happen after he is gone?