because 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.

Evil Under the Sun

Again I saw all the oppressions that are done 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.

But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Fear God

Guard 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.

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt,

This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind:

a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.

In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing.

Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases.

Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.

It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler:

The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness.

Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.