6 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: 2 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,j and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.k

3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillbornl child is better off than he.m 4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5 Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man—6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?n

7 Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,

yet their appetite is never satisfied.o

8 What advantage have the wise over fools?p

What do the poor gain

by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?

9 Better what the eye sees

than the roving of the appetite.

This too is meaningless,

a chasing after the wind.q

10 Whatever exists has already been named,r

and what humanity is has been known;

no one can contend

with someone who is stronger.

11 The more the words,

the less the meaning,

and how does that profit anyone?

12 For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless dayss they pass through like a shadow?t Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

Wisdom

7 A good name is better than fine perfume,u

and the day of death better than the day of birth.v

2 It is better to go to a house of mourning

than to go to a house of feasting,

for deathw is the destinyx of everyone;

the living should take this to heart.

3 Frustration is better than laughter,y

because a sad face is good for the heart.

4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.z

5 It is better to heed the rebukea of a wise person

than to listen to the song of fools.

6 Like the crackling of thornsb under the pot,

so is the laughterc of fools.

This too is meaningless.

7 Extortion turns a wise person into a fool,

and a bribed corrupts the heart.

8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning,

and patiencee is better than pride.

9 Do not be quickly provokedf in your spirit,

for anger resides in the lap of fools.g

10 Do not say, “Why were the old daysh better than these?”

For it is not wise to ask such questions.

11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thingi

and benefits those who see the sun.j

12 Wisdom is a shelter

as money is a shelter,

but the advantage of knowledge is this:

Wisdom preserves those who have it.

13 Consider what God has done:k

Who can straighten

what he has made crooked?l

14 When times are good, be happy;

but when times are bad, consider this:

God has made the one

as well as the other.m

Therefore, no one can discover

anything about their future.

15 In this meaningless lifen of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,

and the wicked living long in their wickedness.o

16 Do not be overrighteous,

neither be overwise—

why destroy yourself?

17 Do not be overwicked,

and do not be a fool—

why die before your time?p

18 It is good to grasp the one

and not let go of the other.

Whoever fears Godq will avoid all extremes.a

19 Wisdomr makes one wise person more powerfuls

than ten rulers in a city.

20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,t

no one who does what is right and never sins.u

21 Do not pay attention to every word people say,

or youv may hear your servant cursing you—

22 for you know in your heart

that many times you yourself have cursed others.

23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

“I am determined to be wise”w—

but this was beyond me.

24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound—

who can discover it?x

25 So I turned my mind to understand,

to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of thingsy

and to understand the stupidity of wickedness

and the madness of folly.z

26 I find more bitter than death

the woman who is a snare,a

whose heart is a trap

and whose hands are chains.

The man who pleases God will escape her,

but the sinner she will ensnare.b

27 “Look,” says the Teacher,b c “this is what I have discovered:

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—

28 while I was still searching

but not finding—

I found one upright man among a thousand,

but not one upright womand among them all.

29 This only have I found:

God created mankind upright,

but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

8 Who is like the wise?

Who knows the explanation of things?

A person’s wisdom brightens their face

and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the King

2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.e Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?f”

5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,

and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,g

though a person may be weighed down by misery.

7 Since no one knows the future,

who can tell someone else what is to come?

8 As no one has power over the wind to contain it,

soa no one has power over the time of their death.

As no one is discharged in time of war,

so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his ownb hurt. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buriedh—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praisec in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go betteri with those who fear God,j who are reverent before him.k 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God,l it will not go well with them, and their daysm will not lengthen like a shadow.

14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.n This too, I say, is meaningless.o 15 So I commend the enjoyment of lifep, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drinkq and be glad.r Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdoms and to observe the labor that is done on eartht—people getting no sleep day or night—17 then I saw all that God has done.u No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.v