The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them.

For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God,

The God-Given Task

What gain has the worker from his toil?

also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.

So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Then 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.

The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.

one person who has no other, 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.

For 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!

For he went from prison to the throne, though in his own kingdom he had been born poor.

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

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

and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.

As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.

For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

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.

Keep the King's Command

Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

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

All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

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.

But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

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.

But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.

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

they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.