Chronological

1 ¶ The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

² Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

³ What profit does a man have of all his labour which he takes under the sun?

⁴ ¶ One generation passes away, and another generation comes, but the earth abides for ever.

⁵ The sun arises, and the sun goes down, and with desire returns to his place from which he arises again.

⁶ The wind goes toward the south and turns about unto the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to its circuits.

⁷ All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, there they return again.

⁸ All things are full of labour; more than man can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing.

⁹ ¶ The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there any thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time which was before us.

¹¹ There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

¹² ¶ I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³ And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven (this sore travail God has given to the sons of man that they be occupied in it).

¹⁴ I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

¹⁵ That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.

¹⁶ I communed with my own heart, saying, Behold, I am come to great estate and have gotten more wisdom than all those that have been before me in Jerusalem; and my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

¹⁷ And I gave my heart to know wisdom and knowledge and to know folly and those who are mad; I learned in the end that this also is vexation of spirit.

¹⁸ For in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.

2 ¶ I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy good things; and, behold, this also is vanity.

² I said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, What does it do?

³ I proposed in my heart to regale my flesh with wine and that my heart would walk in wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

⁴ I made myself great works; I built myself houses; I planted myself vineyards;

⁵ I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits;

⁶ I made myself pools of water, to water with them the forest that brings forth trees;

⁷ I got myself slaves and maidens and had sons born in my house; also I had great possessions of cattle and sheep above all that were in Jerusalem before me;

⁸ I gathered unto myself also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I obtained men singers and women singers and all the delights of the sons of men, musical instruments, and those of all sorts.

⁹ So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem, and more than that, my wisdom remained with me.

¹⁰ And 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 labour, and this was my portion of all my labour.

¹¹ At last I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do; and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

¹² ¶ And I turned myself to behold wisdom and those who are mad, and folly; for what can the man do that comes after the king? even that which has already been done.

¹³ And I have seen that wisdom excels folly as far as light excels darkness.

¹⁴ The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness: And I myself also understood that one event happens to the one and to the other.

¹⁵ Then I said in my heart, As it shall happen to the fool, so it shall happen even to me. Why have I worked until now to make myself wiser? Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

¹⁶ For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever, seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And also the wise man shall die the same as the fool.

¹⁷ ¶ Therefore I hated life because every work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all was vanity and vexation of spirit.

¹⁸ Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun, which I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

¹⁹ And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool, he who shall have rule over all my labour in which I have laboured and in which I have showed myself wise under the sun? This is also vanity.

²⁰ Therefore my heart began to despair again regarding all the labour which I took under the sun.

²¹ That the man who worked with wisdom and with knowledge and with uprightness would have to leave his portion to a man that has not laboured therein. This also is vanity and a great evil.

²² For what does man have of all his labour and of the vexation of his heart in which he has laboured under the sun?

²³ For all his days are only sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This is also vanity.

²⁴ There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. I also have seen that this is from the hand of God.

²⁵ For who can eat, or who can care for himself better than I?

²⁶ For God gives to the man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to the one that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

3 ¶ For all things there is a season, and every will under the heaven has its time determined.

² A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

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 seek, 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;

⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

⁹ What profit does the one that works have in that in which he labours?

¹⁰ I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men that they may be occupied in it.

¹¹ ¶ He has made every thing beautiful in his time: even the world he has given over to their will, in such a way that no man can attain to this work that God makes from the beginning to the end.

¹² I have learned that there is nothing better for them, but to rejoice and to do good in his life.

¹³ And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labour; it is the gift of God.

¹⁴ I have understood that whatever God does, it shall be for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it because God does it that men should fear before him.

¹⁵ That which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been and God shall seek that which is past.

¹⁶ ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun that instead of judgment, there was wickedness; and instead of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

¹⁷ I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time determined to judge every will and regarding everything that is done.

¹⁸ I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men that God might manifest them and that they might see that they themselves are beasts one to another.

¹⁹ For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; and they all have one breath; so that a man has no more breath than a beast: for all is vanity.

²⁰ All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all shall turn to dust again.

²¹ Who knows that the spirit of the sons of men goes upward and that the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth?

²² Therefore I perceive 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 to see what shall be after him?

4 ¶ So I returned and considered all the violence that is done under the sun and behold the tears of such as are oppressed, and they have no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but the oppressed had no comforter.

² Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.

³ And I thought that better is he than both of them who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil works that are done under the sun.

⁴ ¶ Again, I considered all travail and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

⁵ The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh.

⁶ Better is a handful with rest than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

⁷ ¶ Then I returned, and I saw another vanity under the sun.

⁸ It is the man who is alone, without a successor, who has neither son nor brother; yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity and sore travail.

⁹ Two are better than one because they have a better reward for their labour.

¹⁰ For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falls, for he has not another to help him up.

¹¹ Again, if two sleep together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm alone?

¹² And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

¹³ ¶ Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king who will no longer be admonished.

¹⁴ For he came out of prison to reign, even though he was born poor into his kingdom.

¹⁵ I saw all the living who are under the sun walking with the child, the successor that shall stand up in his stead.

¹⁶ There is no end of all the people that have been before them; those also that come after shall not be content in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

5 ¶ Watch thy feet when thou goest to the house of God and draw near with more willingness to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know how to do what God wants.

² Do not be rash with thy mouth and do not let thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.

³ For out of much preoccupation comes the dream, and the voice of the fool out of a multitude of words.

⁴ ¶ When thou dost vow a vow unto God, do not defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou hast vowed.

⁵ It is better that thou should not vow than that thou should vow and not pay.

⁶ Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was ignorance. Why should thou cause God to be angry because of thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands?

⁷ Because dreams abound, and vanities and the words are many, but fear thou God.

⁸ If thou seest violence unto the poor and the extortion of rights and justice in a province, do not marvel at the matter, for height is looking upon height; and there is one higher than they.

⁹ ¶ And there is higher authority in all of the things of the earth, but he who serves the field is king.

¹⁰ He that loves money shall not be satisfied with money; nor he that loves abundance with increase; this is also vanity.

¹¹ When goods increase, those that eat them are increased; and what good is there to the owners thereof, except the beholding of them with their eyes?

¹² The sleep of the servant is sweet whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

¹³ There is another sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt;

¹⁴ which are lost by evil pursuits and to the sons which he has begotten; there is nothing left in his hand.

¹⁵ As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

¹⁶ And this also is a sore evil; that in all points as he came, so shall he go; and what profit has he that has laboured for the wind?

¹⁷ In addition to this, all the days of his life he shall eat in darkness, with much wrath and pain and sorrow sickness.

¹⁸ ¶ Behold therefore the good which I have seen: that good is to eat and to drink and to enjoy of the good of all his labour that he takes under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him; for it is his portion.

¹⁹ Likewise, unto every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.

²⁰ To such a one, God will remove the concerns common to others, for God shall answer him with joy from his heart.

6 ¶ There is another evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is very common among men:

² A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honour so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but the strangers eat it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

³ If a man begets a hundred sons and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his soul is not filled with good and also that he have no burial; I say that an aborted birth is better than he.

⁴ For he came in vain and departs unto darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

⁵ Even though he has not seen the sun nor known any thing; this one has more rest than the other.

⁶ For though the other should live a thousand years twice and has not enjoyed good; both shall surely go to the same place.

⁷ ¶ All the labour of man is for his mouth, and with all this the appetite is not filled.

⁸ For what has the wise more than the fool? what more has the poor that knows how to walk among the living?

⁹ It is better to enjoy the good that is present than the wandering of desire; this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

¹⁰ He that is has been named already; and it is known that he is man and that he shall not be able to contend with him that is mightier than he.

¹¹ ¶ Certainly the many words multiply vanity, what more does man have?

¹² For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of the life of his vanity which he causes to be as a shadow? for who shall teach the man what shall be after him under the sun?