Chronological

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)!^(F)

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—^[d]concubines very many.^(G)

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.^(H)

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.^(I)

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.^(J)

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—^[e]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,^(K)

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,^(L)

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

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].^(N)

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 ^[f]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?

4 Then I returned and considered all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun: And I beheld the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they [too] had no comforter.

² So I praised and thought more fortunate those who have been long dead than the living, who are still alive.

³ But better than them both [I thought] is he who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

⁴ Then I saw that all painful effort in labor and all skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This is also vanity, a vain striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

⁵ The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh [destroying himself by indolence].

⁶ Better is a handful with quietness than both hands full with painful effort, a vain striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

⁷ Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun [in one of its peculiar forms].

⁸ Here is one alone—no one with him; he neither has child nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labor, neither is his eye satisfied with riches, neither does he ask, For whom do I labor and deprive myself of good? This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility); yes, it is a painful effort and an unhappy business.^(O)

⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labor;

¹⁰ For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

¹¹ Again, if two lie down together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?

¹² And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³ Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who ^[g]no longer knows how to receive counsel (friendly reproof and warning)—

¹⁴ Even though [the youth] comes out of prison to reign, while the other, born a king, becomes needy.

¹⁵ I saw all the living who walk under the sun with the youth who was to stand up in the king’s stead.

¹⁶ There was no end to all the people; he was over all of them. Yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory) and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it.

5 Keep your foot [give your mind to what you are doing] when you go [as Jacob to sacred Bethel] to the house of God. For to draw near to hear and obey is better than to give the sacrifice of fools [carelessly, irreverently] too ignorant to know that they are doing evil.^(P)

² Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.

³ For a dream comes with much business and painful effort, and a fool’s voice with many words.

⁴ When you vow a vow or make a pledge to God, do not put off paying it; for God has no pleasure in fools (those who witlessly mock Him). Pay what you vow.^(Q)

⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.^(R)

⁶ Do not allow your mouth to cause your body to sin, and do not say before the messenger [the priest] that it was an error or mistake. Why should God be [made] angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?^(S)

⁷ For in a multitude of dreams there is futility and worthlessness, and ruin in a flood of words. But [reverently] fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is].

⁸ If you see the oppression of the poor and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in the state or province, do not marvel at the matter. [Be sure that there are those who will attend to it] for a higher [official] than the high is observing, and higher ones are over them.

⁹ Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the field and in all, a king is an advantage to a land with cultivated fields.

¹⁰ He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with gain. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

¹¹ When goods increase, they who eat them increase also. And what gain is there to their owner except to see them with his eyes?

¹² The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the fullness of the rich will not let him sleep.

¹³ There is a serious and severe evil which I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt.

¹⁴ But those riches are lost in a bad venture; and he becomes the father of a son, and there is nothing in his hand [with which to support the child].

¹⁵ As [the man] came forth from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; and he will take away nothing for all his labor which he can carry in his hand.

¹⁶ And this also is a serious and severe evil—that in all points as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he who labors for the wind?^(T)

¹⁷ All his days also he eats in darkness [cheerlessly, with no sweetness and light in them], and much sorrow and sickness and wrath are his.

¹⁸ Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is for one to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in all the labor in which he labors under the sun all the days which God gives him—for this is his [allotted] part.^(U)

¹⁹ Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, and the power to enjoy them and to accept his appointed lot and to rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God [to him].

²⁰ For he shall not much remember [seriously] the days of his life, because God [Himself] answers and corresponds to the joy of his heart [the tranquillity of God is mirrored in him].

6 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavily upon men:

² A man to whom God has given riches, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he might desire, yet God does not give him the power or capacity to enjoy them [things which are gifts from God], but a stranger [in whom he has no interest succeeds him and] consumes and enjoys them. This is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility); it is a sore affliction!^(V)

³ If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his life is not filled with good, and also he is given no burial [honors nor is laid to rest in the sepulcher of his fathers], I say that [he who had] an untimely birth [resulting in death] is better off than he,^(W)

⁴ For [the untimely one] comes in futility and goes into darkness, and in darkness his name is covered.

⁵ Moreover, he has not seen the sun nor had any knowledge, yet he [the stillborn child] has rest rather than he [who is aware of all that he has missed and all that he would not have had to suffer].

⁶ Even though he lives a thousand years twice over and yet has seen no good and experienced no enjoyment—do not all go to one place [the place of the dead]?

⁷ All the labor of man is for his mouth [for self-preservation and enjoyment], and yet his desire is not satisfied.^(X)

⁸ For what advantage has the wise man over the fool [being worldly-wise is not the secret to happiness]? What advantage has the poor man who has learned how to walk before the living [publicly, with men’s eyes upon him; being poor is not the secret to happiness either]?

⁹ Better is the sight of the eyes [the enjoyment of what is available to one] than the cravings of wandering desire. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it!

¹⁰ Whatever [man] is, he has been named that long ago, and it is known that it is man ^[h][Adam]; nor can he contend with Him who is mightier than he [whether God or death].

¹¹ Seeing that there are [all these and] many other things and words that increase the emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility [of living], what profit and what outcome is there for man?

¹² For who [^[i]limited to human wisdom] knows what is good for man in his life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow [going through the motions but accomplishing nothing]? For who can tell a man what will happen [to his work, his treasure, his plans] under the sun after he is gone?