And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.

I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.”

And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

The Vanity of Pleasure

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.

I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.

So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”

Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.

For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?

For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

I said in my heart, “God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”

I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.”

Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.

For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.

Better to go to the house of mourning Than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men; And the living will take it to heart.

Sorrow is better than laughter, For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason, And a bribe debases the heart.

Also do not take to heart everything people say, Lest you hear your servant cursing you.

For many times, also, your own heart has known That even you have cursed others.

I applied my heart to know, To search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, To know the wickedness of folly, Even of foolishness and madness.

And I find more bitter than death The woman whose heart is snares and nets, Whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God shall escape from her, But the sinner shall be trapped by her.

He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment,

All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night,

Death Comes to All

For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Go, eat your bread with joy, And drink your wine with a merry heart; For God has already accepted your works.

A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.

Seek God in Early Life

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment.

Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, And put away evil from your flesh, For childhood and youth are vanity.