Ecclesiastes

For what has been for the man for all his toil and for the striving of his heart, with which he toils under the sun?

For all his days are pains, and anger [is] his task; even in the night his heart will not find rest. This also is vapor.

Nothing [is] better for the man than to eat and drink, and his soul to see good in his toil. This also I saw, that it [is] from the hand of God;

a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also eternity put in their heart, without which a man cannot find out the work that God has done from beginning even to end.

I know that there is nothing good for them, but than to rejoice and to do good during their lives,

and also [that] every man should eat and drink and see good in all his toil—it [is] a gift of God.

There is one, and there is not a second—there is not even a son or brother for him—and there is not end to all his toils; and his eye is not satisfied with wealth: “For whom [am] I toiling and depriving my soul of good?” This also [is] vapor, and it [is] a task of evil.

Better a youth poor and wise than a king old and foolish, who does not know to be warned anymore.

Guard your feet when you walk to the house of God; and drawing near to listen [is] above giving the sacrifice of fools, for there are none of them knowing they do evil.

Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart hurry to bring out a word before the face of God; for God [is] in the heavens, and you [are] upon the earth—upon thus, let your words be few.

For [as] a dream comes with an abundance of business, so the voice of a fool with an abundance of words.

When you vow a vow to God, you should not delay to fulfill it, for [there is] no delight in fools. What you have vowed, you must fulfill.

Better that you did not vow, than that you vow and not fulfill [it].

Do not give your mouth to cause your flesh to sin, and do not say before the face of the messenger that it [was] an error. Why should God be angry concerning your voice and destroy the work of your hands?

Sweet [is] the sleep of the one working, whether he eats little or much; but the satsifaction of the rich one will not allow rest for him to sleep.

A man [for] whom God has given to him riches and wealth and honor, and he has no lack for his soul from all that; he desires and God does not give him power to eat from it; instead a foreign man eats it. This [is] vapor, and it [is] a sickening evil.

For [there is] not a righteous man on the earth who does good and does not sin.

See, this alone I have found: That God made man upright, and they have sought out many schemes.

Because an edict is not made [on] the evil work swiftly, upon thus the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil.

This [is] an evil in all that is done under the sun: That one event [is] to all, and also [that] the heart of the sons of man is full of evil; and madness [is] in their hearts while they live, and afterward to the dead.

And remember your Creator in the days of your youth, while the days of evil have not come, and the years have drawn near when you say, “No delight for me [is] in them!”

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

And further, by these my son, be warned: To the making of many books there is no end, and much study is weariness to the flesh.

For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.