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What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?
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What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
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No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
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Pleasures Are Meaningless
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.
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I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
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Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.”
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For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!
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And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
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What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?
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I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
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I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
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Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
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I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”
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So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?
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Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.
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Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
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Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
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There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
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God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
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What advantage have the wise over fools? What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
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For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
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It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.
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Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you—
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I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner she will ensnare.
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Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
