meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Writings/Ecclesiastes/English/The Koren Jerusalem Bible.txt"}
text: Ecclesiastes
  קהלת
  The Koren Jerusalem Bible
  
  
  Ecclesiastes
  
  
  
  
  
  The words of Qohelet, the son of David, king in Yerushalayim.
  Vanity of vanities, says Qohelet, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
  What profit has a man of all his labour wherein he labours under the sun?
  One generation passes away, and another generation comes: but the earth abides for ever.
  The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to its place where it rises again.
  The wind goes towards the south, and veers to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
  All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers flow, thither they return.
  All things are full of weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
  That which has been, it is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done: and there is nothing new under the sun.
  Is there a thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new; but it has already been in the ages before us.
  There is no remembrance of former things; nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come among those who shall come after.
  I Qohelet was king over Yisra᾽el in Yerushalayim.
  And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under the heaven: it is a sore task that God has given to the sons of man to be exercised with.
  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
  That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
  I spoke to my own heart, saying, See, I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all those who were before me in Yerushalayim: for my heart has seen much of wisdom and knowledge.
  And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind.
  For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.
  
  
  
  I said in my heart, Come now, I will try thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.
  I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What does it achieve?
  I sought in my heart to stimulate my body with wine (yet guiding my heart with wisdom;) and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
  I made great works for myself; I built houses; I planted vineyards:
  I made gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
  I made pools of water, from which to water a forest of growing trees:
  I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than all who were in Yerushalayim before me:
  I gathered also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces: I acquired men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, women very many.
  So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Yerushalayim: also my wisdom remained with me.
  And whatever my eyes desired I did not withhold from them; I did not restrain my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
  Then I looked at all the works that my hands had wrought, and at the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
  And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do who comes after the king? even that which has been already done.
  Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.
  The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all.
  Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.
  For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance; seeing that which now is, shall, in the days to come, be entirely forgotten. And how does the wise man die? just like the fool.
  Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me: for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
  And I hated all my labour in which I had laboured under the sun: because I must leave it to the man who shall come after me.
  And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour in which I have laboured, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
  Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
  For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skill; yet he must leave it for a portion to a man who has not laboured in it.This also is vanity and a great evil.
  For what has a man of all his labour, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labours under the sun?
  For all his days are pains, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
  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; but this also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
  For who can eat, or who can enjoy pleasure, more than I?
  Surely he gives to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up, that he may give it to one who is good before God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
  
  
  
  To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
  a time to be born,and a time to die;
  				a time to plant,and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
  a time to kill,and a time to heal;
  				a time to break down,and a time to build up;
  a time to weep,and a time to laugh;
  				a time to mourn,and a time to dance;
  a time to cast away stones,and a time to gather stones together;
  				a time to embrace,and a time to refrain from embracing;
  a time to seek,and a time to lose;
  				a time to keep,and a time to cast away;
  a time to rend,and a time to sew;
  				a time to keep silence,and a time to speak;
  a time to love,and a time to hate;
  				a time of war,and a time of peace.
  What profit has the worker from his toil?
  I have seen the task, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
  He has made every thing beautiful in his time: also he has set the mystery of the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work which God has made from the beginning to the end.
  I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good in his life:
  also that it is the gift of God that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour.
  I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever: nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it: and God does it, so that men should fear before him.
  That which is, already has been; and that which is to be has already been; and only God can find the fleeting moment.
  And moreover I saw under the sun in the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.
  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, after the speech of the sons of men, that God has chosen them out, but only to see that they themselves are but as beasts;
  that that which befalls the sons of men befalls the beasts; even one thing befalls them both: as the one dies, so the other dies; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man has no preeminence over a beast: for all is vanity.
  All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all return to dust.
  Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upwards, and the spirit of the beast goes downwards to the earth?
  So I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his work; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
  
  
  
  So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
  So I praised the dead that are already dead more than the living that are yet alive;
  but better than both of them is be who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
  Again, I considered all labour, and every skill in work, that it comes from a man’s rivalry with his neighbour. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
  The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh.
  Better is a handful with quietness, than both the hands full of labour and striving after wind.
  Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.
  There is one alone, without a companion; yea, he has neither son nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches: he may say, For whom then do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity; indeed, it is a sorry business.
  Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
  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.
  Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth: but how can one be warm alone?
  And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; but a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
  Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who no longer knows how to take care of himself.
  For out of prison one came forth to reign; whilst another in his royal power may become poor.
  I saw all the living who wander under the sun – they were with the second child who was to rise up in his stead.
  There is no end of all the people who come to acclaim the one who goes before them: yet they who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
  Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; to draw near to hearken is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
  
  
  
  Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
  For a dream comes through a multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by a multitude of words.
  When thou vowest a vow to God, do not defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
  Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay.
  Do not let thy mouth cause thy flesh to sin; nor say before the angel, that it was an error: why should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thy hands?
  For this comes from the multitude of dreams and vanities and many words: but fear thou God.
  If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not marvel at the matter: for there is a high one who watches over him that is high; and there are yet higher ones over them.
  Moreover, land has an advantage for everyone: he who tills a field is a king.
  He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
  When goods increase, they who eat them are increased: and what good is there to their owner, saving the beholding of them with his eyes?
  The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the repletion of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
  There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
  But those riches perish by evil adventure: and he begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
  As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and he shall take nothing for his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
  And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit has he that labours for the wind?
  All his days also he eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and sickness and wrath.
  Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for it is his portion.
  Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
  For he shall remember that the days of his life are not many, in which God provides him with the joy of his heart.
  
  
  
  There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:
  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 a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
  If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not content with the good, and also that he has no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
  For it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.
  Moreover it has not seen the sun, nor known anything: this has more comfort than the other.
  For though he live a thousand years twice told, yet he has seen no good: do not all go to one place?
  All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
  For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? what has the poor man who knows how to make his way among the living?
  Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and a striving after wind.
  That which has been was named long ago, and it is known that it is but man: nor may he contend with one who is mightier than he.
  Seeing there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
  For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
  
  
  
  A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
  It is 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 lay it to his heart.
  Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad.
  The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
  It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
  For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
  Surely oppression makes a wise man mad; and a bribe destroys the heart.
  Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
  Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
  Do not say, How was it that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.
  Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun.
  For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to those who have it.
  Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?
  In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
  All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.
  Be not righteous overmuch; nor make thyself overwise: why shouldst thou destroy thyself?
  Be not wicked overmuch, nor be foolish: why shouldst thou die before thy time?
  It is good that thou shouldst take hold of this; but do not withdraw thy hand from that either: for he that fears God performs them all.
  Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers who are in a city.
  For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not.
  Also take no heed to all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee:
  for oftentimes also thy own heart knows that thou thyself hast likewise cursed others.
  All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
  That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
  I cast about in my mind to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and foolishness which is madness:
  and I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are fetters: he who pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be caught by her.
  Behold, this have I found, says Qohelet, counting one thing to another, to find out the sum,
  which yet my soul seeks, but I have not found it: One man among a thousand I have found; but a woman among all those I have not found.
  Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.
  
  
  
  Who is like the wise man? and who knows the interpretation of a thing? a man’s wisdom makes his face to shine, and the boldness of his face is changed.
  I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in the manner of an oath of God.
  Be not hasty to go out of his presence: stand not in an evil thing; for he does whatever pleases him.
  For the word of a king has authority: and who may say to him, What doest thou?
  He who keeps the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerns both time and method.
  For every matter has its time and method, though the misery of man is great upon him.
  For he knows not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
  There is no man who has power over the wind to retain the wind; nor has he power over the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; nor shall wickedness deliver those who are given up to it.
  All this have I seen, and have appointed my heart to every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when one man rules over another to his own hurt.
  And so I saw the wicked buried, and come to their rest; but those who had done right were gone from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city: this also is vanity.
  Because 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.
  Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before him:
  but it shall not be well with the wicked, and, like the shadow, he will not prolong his days; because he does not fear before God.
  There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are just men, to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.
  So I commend mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall accompany him in his labour during the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.
  When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (how one sees no sleep with one’s eyes either by day or by night;)
  then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; furthermore; though a wise man think to know it, yet he shall not be able to find it.
  
  
  
  For all this I laid to my heart, and sought to clarify all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their deeds, are in the hand of God: no man knows whether love or hatred is in store: all is before them.
  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him who sacrifices, and to him who does not sacrifice: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he who swears, as he who fears an oath.
  This is an evil in all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
  For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know nothing, nor do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
  Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now long perished; nor have they any more a portion forever in any thing that is done under the sun.
  Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted thy works.
  Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no oil.
  Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he has given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labour in which thou dost labour under the sun.
  Whatever thy hand finds to do, do it with thy strength, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in She᾽ol, whither thou goest.
  I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.
  For man also knows not his time: like the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and like the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.
  This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
  there was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great siegeworks against it:
  now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom saved the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
  Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
  The words of wise men heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.
  Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroys much good.
  
  
  
  Dead flies cause the perfumer’s ointment to give off a foul odour: so does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honour.
  A wise man’s heart inclines him to his right hand: but a fool’s heart to his left.
  Yea also, when a fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he reveals to everyone that he is a fool.
  If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, do not leave thy place; for deference appeases great offences.
  There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, when an error proceeds from the ruler:
  folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
  I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.
  He who digs a pit shall fall into it; and whoever breaks through a hedge, a snake shall bite him.
  He who removes stones shall be hurt by them; and he who chops wood shall be endangered by that.
  If the iron is blunt, and one does not whet the edge, then he must put to more strength: but wisdom increases skill.
  If the serpent bites and cannot be charmed, then there is no advantage in a charmer.
  The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
  The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is grievous madness.
  A fool also multiplies words: yet no man can tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
  The labour of fools wearies himself; for he does not know to get to the city.
  Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes dine in the morning!
  Happy art thou, O land, when thy king is a man of dignity, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!
  By much slothfulness the beams collapse; and through idleness of the hands the house leaks.
  A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life joyful: and money answers all things.
  Do not curse the king, no, not even in thy thought; and do not curse the rich even in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the sky shall carry the sound, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.
  
  
  
  Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
  Give a portion to seven, and even to eight; for thou knowst not what evil shall be upon the earth.
  If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree falls towards the south, or towards the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.
  He who observes the wind shall not sow; and he who regards the clouds shall not reap.
  As thou knowst not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowst not the works of God who makes all.
  In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening do not withhold thy hand: for thou knowst not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
  Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:
  for if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.
  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
  Therefore remove vexation from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
  
  
  
  Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
  before the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain:
  in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows are dimmed,
  and the doors are shut in the street, when the sound of the grinding is low, and one starts up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music are brought low;
  when they are also afraid of that which is high, and terrors are in the way, and the almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caperberry fails; because the man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets;
  before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is shattered, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern;
  and the dust returns to the earth as it was: and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
  Vanity of vanities, says Qohelet; all is vanity.
  And besides being wise, Qohelet also taught the people knowledge; for he weighed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
  Qohelet sought to find out acceptable words: and words of truth written in proper form.
  The words of the wise are like spurs, and like nails well driven in are the sayings of the masters of collections; they are given by one shepherd.
  And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
  The end of the matter, when all is said and done: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for that is the whole duty of man.
  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.