Jubilee2000 - Ecclesiastes

Chapter 1

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

1:2  Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all [is] vanity.

1:3  What profit does a man have of all his labour which he takes under the sun?

1:4  [One] generation passes away, and [another] generation comes, but the earth abides for ever.

1:5  The sun arises, and the sun goes down, and with desire returns to his place from which he arises again.

1:6  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.

1:7  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.

1:8  All things [are] full of labour; more [than] man can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear filled with hearing.

1:9  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.

1:10  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.

1:11  [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.

1:12  I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

1:13  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).

1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

1:15  [That which is] crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.

1:16  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.

1:17  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.

1:18  For in much wisdom [is] much grief, and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.:

Chapter 2

2:1  I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy good things; and, behold, this also [is] vanity.

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

2:3  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.

2:4  I made myself great works; I built myself houses; I planted myself vineyards;

2:5  I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits;

2:6  I made myself pools of water, to water with them the forest that brings forth trees;

2:7  I got [myself] servants 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;

2:8  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.

2:9  So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem, and more than that, my wisdom remained with me.

2:10  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.

2:11  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.

2:12  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.

2:13  And I have seen that wisdom excels folly as far as light excels darkness.

2:14  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.

2:15  [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.

2:16  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.

2:17  [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.

2:18  [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.

2:19  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.

2:20  Therefore my heart began to despair again regarding all the labour which I took under the sun.

2:21  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.

2:22  For what does man have of all his labour and of the vexation of his heart in which he has laboured under the sun?

2:23  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.

2:24  [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.

2:25  For who can eat, or who can care for himself better than I?

2:26  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.:

Chapter 3

3:1  For all things [there is] a season, and every will under the heaven [has its] time [determined].

3:2  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted;

3:3  a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

3:4  a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

3:5  a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

3:6  a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

3:7  a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

3:8  a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

3:9  What profit does the one that works have in that in which he labours?

3:10  I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men that they may be occupied in it.

3:11  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.

3:12  I have learned that [there is] nothing better for them, but to rejoice and to do good in his life.

3:13  And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labour; it [is] the gift of God.

3:14  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.

3:15  That which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been and God shall seek that which is past.

3:16  And moreover I saw under the sun [that] instead of judgment, there [was] wickedness; and instead of righteousness, [that] iniquity [was] there.

3:17  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.

3:18  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.

3:19  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.

3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all shall turn to dust again.

3:21  Who knows that the spirit of the sons of men goes upward and that the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth?

3:22  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?:

Chapter 4

4:1  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.

4:2  Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.

4:3  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.

4:4  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.

4:5  The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh.

4:6  Better [is] a handful [with] rest than both the hands full [with] travail and vexation of spirit.

4:7  Then I returned, and I saw [another] vanity under the sun.

4:8  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.

4:9  Two [are] better than one because they have a better reward for their labour.

4:10  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.

4:11  Again, if two sleep together, then they have heat, but how can one be warm [alone]?

4:12  And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

4:13  Better [is] a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king who will no longer be admonished.

4:14  For he came out of prison to reign, even though he was born poor into his kingdom.

4:15  I saw all the living who are under the sun walking with the child, the successor that shall stand up in his stead.

4:16  [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.:

Chapter 5

5:1  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.

5:2  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.

5:3  For [out] of much preoccupation comes the dream, and the voice of the fool [out] of a multitude of words.

5:4  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.

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

5:6  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?

5:7  Because dreams abound, and vanities and the words are many, but fear thou God.

5:8  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.

5:9  And there is higher [authority] in all of the things of the earth, [but] he who serves the field is king.

5:10  He that loves money shall not be satisfied with money; nor he that loves abundance with increase; this [is] also vanity.

5:11  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?

5:12  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.

5:13  There is [another] sore evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt;

5:14  which are lost by evil pursuits and to the sons which he has begotten; [there is] nothing left in his hand.

5:15  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.

5:16  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?

5:17  In addition to this, all the days of his life he shall eat in darkness, with much wrath and pain and sorrow sickness.

5:18  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.

5:19  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.

5:20  To such a one, God will remove the concerns common [to others], for God shall answer [him] with joy from his heart.:

Chapter 6

6:1  There is [another] evil which I have seen under the sun, and it [is] very common among men:

6:2  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.

6:3  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.

6:4  For he came in vain and departs unto darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

6:5  Even though he has not seen the sun nor known [any thing]; this [one] has more rest than the other.

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

6:7  All the labour of man [is] for his mouth, and with all this the appetite is not filled.

6:8  For what has the wise more than the fool? what [more has] the poor that knows how to walk among the living?

6:9  It is better to enjoy the good that is present than the wandering of desire; this [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit.

6:10  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.

6:11  Certainly the many words multiply vanity, what more does man have?

6:12  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?:

Chapter 7

7:1  A good name [is] better than precious ointment and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

7:2  [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.

7:3  Sorrow [is] better than laughter; for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made whole.

7:4  The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools [is] in the house of pleasure.

7:5  [It is] better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.

7:6  The laughter of the fool [is] as the crackling of thorns under a pot, and this [also (the laughter or prosperity of the fool) is] vanity.

7:7  Surely oppression makes a wise man mad, and a gift destroys the heart.

7:8  Better [is] the end of a thing than its beginning, [and] he who has suffered in spirit [is] better than the proud in spirit.

7:9  Do not be hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

7:10  Never say, What is [the cause] that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

7:11  Knowledge [is] good with an inheritance and [is] the excellency of those that see the sun.

7:12  For knowledge [is] a defence, [and] money [is] a defence; but wisdom excels in [that] it gives life to those that have it.

7:13  Consider the work of God; for who can make straight that which [he] has twisted?

7:14  In the day of good enjoy that which is good, but in the day of adversity open your [eyes and learn]: God also has made the one [(the day of adversity)] before the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

7:15  All [things] have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just [man] that perishes for his righteousness, and there is a wicked [man] that prolongs [his days] by his wickedness.

7:16  Do not be too legalistic; neither make thyself over wise [in thine own eyes]: why should thou destroy thyself?

7:17  Do not be hasty [to] condemn, neither be thou foolish: why should thou die in the midst of thy labours?

7:18  [It is] good that thou should take hold of this; and also from the other not withdraw thy hand; for he that fears God shall come through with everything.

7:19  Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten mighty [men] who are in the city.

7:20  For surely [there is] not a just man upon earth that in doing good does not sin.

7:21  Also do not take to heart all the words that are spoken lest thou hear thy servant speak evil of thee:

7:22  For thine own heart knows that thou thyself likewise hast spoken evil of others many times.

7:23  All this I have proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise, but it [was] far from me.

7:24  That which has been is far off and that [which is] exceeding deep, who can find it out?

7:25  I applied my heart to know and to search and to seek out wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know the wickedness of folly and the madness of error;

7:26  and I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart [is] snares and nets, [and] her hands [are] bonds; whosoever pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be held prisoner in her.

7:27  Behold, this I have found, saith the preacher, [weighing things] one by one to find out the answer,

7:28  which my soul yet seeks, but I find not: one man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all those I have not found.

7:29  Behold, this only have I found: that God has made man upright, but they have sought out many perversions.:

Chapter 8

8:1  Who [is] as the wise [man]? and who [is as] he who knows the interpretation of [all] things? The wisdom of [this] man shall make his face to shine, and the coarseness of his face shall be changed.

8:2  I [counsel thee] to keep the king's commandment and the word of the covenant [that thou hast made] with God.

8:3  Do not be hasty to rebel against him; do not persist in [any] evil thing, for he shall do whatsoever pleases him;

8:4  because the word of the king [is his] power and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

8:5  Whosoever keeps the commandment shall experience no evil thing, and a wise man's heart discerns both time and judgment.

8:6  Because for every will there is time and judgment, because the evil of man [is] great upon him,

8:7  for he does not know that which shall be; nor when it shall be. Who will teach it to him?

8:8  [There is] no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither [does he have] power over the day of death, and weapons are of no use in [that] war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

8:9  All this I have seen and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: the time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.

8:10  Then I also saw that [the] wicked who were buried came into remembrance more than those who had frequented the holy place, and these were forgotten in the city where they had worked uprightly. This also [is] vanity.

8:11  Because [the] 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.

8:12  Though a sinner does evil one hundred times and his [judgment] is prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those that fear God, who fear before his presence;

8:13  but it shall never be well with the wicked, neither shall his days be prolonged, [which are] as a shadow, because he did not fear before the presence of God.

8:14  There is [another] vanity which is done upon the earth: that there are just [men], who are recompensed as if [they had done] according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked [men], who are recompensed as if [they had done] according to the work of the righteous; I say that this also [is] vanity.

8:15  Therefore I commended joy because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry, for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun.

8:16  Therefore I applied mine heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also [there is he that] neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes).

8:17  And I have seen regarding all the works of God that man cannot attain [to understand] the work that is being done under the sun, because though a man labours to seek [it] out, yet he shall not find it; even though the wise [man] says that he knows [it], yet he shall not be able to attain it.:

Chapter 9

9:1  Certainly I applied my heart unto all of this that I might declare all of this: that the righteous and the wise and their works [are] in the hand of God; no man knows either love or hatred by all that [passes] before them.

9:2  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 that sacrifices and to him that does not sacrifice: as [unto] the good so [unto] the sinner; [and unto] him that swears as [unto him] that fears the oath.

9:3  This [is] an evil among all [things] that are done under the sun, that [there is] one event unto all; and also that 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.

9:4  For to him that is [still] among the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

9:5  For the living know that they shall die, but the dead do not know any thing; neither do they have any more reward, for their memory is placed into oblivion.

9:6  Even their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion in the age in any [thing] that is done under the sun.

9:7  Go, eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a joyful heart that thy works might be acceptable unto God.

9:8  Thy garments shall always be white, and thy head shall never lack ointment.

9:9  Live joyfully with the wife whom thou dost love all the days which thou art to live in this lake of vanity, which are given unto thee; all the days of thy vanity under the sun: for that [is] thy portion in [this] life, and in thy labour in which thou dost work under the sun.

9:10  Whatever thy hand finds to do, do [it] with [all] thy might, for [there is] no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, where thou goest.

9:11  I returned and saw under the sun that the race [is] not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of prudence, nor yet grace to men of eloquence; but time and chance happens to them all.

9:12  For man also does not know his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so [are] the sons of men snared in the evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.

9:13  I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, which is important unto me:

9:14  [There was] a little city and few men within it; and a great king came against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it;

9:15  now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no one remembered that same poor man.

9:16  Then I said, Wisdom [is] better than strength: even though the poor man's knowledge [is] despised, and his words are not heard.

9:17  The words of wise [men are] heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rules among fools.

9:18  Wisdom [is] better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.:

Chapter 10

10:1  Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: likewise a small act of folly unto him [that is] esteemed for wisdom [and] honour.

10:2  A wise man's heart [is] at his right hand, but a fool's heart at his left.

10:3  Even when the fool walks by the way, he lacks prudence, and he says unto every one [that] he [is] a fool.

10:4  If the spirit of the ruler rises up against thee, do not leave thy place; for meekness pacifies great sins.

10:5  There is [another] evil [which] I have seen under the sun, as an error [which] proceeds from the ruler:

10:6  Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich are seated in [a] low place.

10:7  I saw servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

10:8  He that digs a pit shall fall into it, and whosoever breaks a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.

10:9  Whosoever moves the stones shall have tribulation along with it, [and] he that cuts the firewood shall be endangered by it.

10:10  If the iron is blunt, and he does not whet the edge, [then he must] put forth more strength, but the advantages of wisdom excel.

10:11  If the serpent bites without being enchanted, then the babbler is no more.

10:12  The words from the mouth of the wise man [are] grace, but the lips of the fool will swallow up himself.

10:13  The beginning of the words of his mouth [is] foolishness, and the end of his talk [is] mischievous madness.

10:14  The fool multiplies words [and says], Man cannot tell what shall be, and what shall be after him, who can tell him?

10:15  The labour of the foolish wearies all of them because they do not know how to go to the city.

10:16  Woe to thee, O land, when thy king [is] a child, and thy princes banquet in the morning!

10:17  Blessed [art] thou, O land, when thy king [is] the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season for strength, and not for drunkenness!

10:18  By much slothfulness the building decays, and through idleness of the hands [the rain] drips throughout the house.

10:19  The banquet is made for pleasure, and wine makes merry; but money answers all [things].

10:20  Do not curse the king, not even in thy thought; and do not curse the rich even in the secret [place] of thy bedchamber; for the birds of the air shall carry the voice, and those who have wings shall tell the matter.:

Chapter 11

11:1  Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days.

11:2  Give a portion to seven and even to eight, for thou dost not know what evil shall come upon the earth.

11:3  If the clouds are full of rain, they shall empty [themselves] upon the earth; and if the tree falls toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall remain.

11:4  He that observes the wind shall not sow, and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.

11:5  As thou dost not know what [is] the way of the spirit [nor] how the bones [grow] in the womb of her that is with child, even so thou dost not know the works of God who makes all.

11:6  In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, either this or that or whether they both [shall be] equally good.

11:7  Truly the light [is] sweet, and a pleasant [thing it is] for the eyes to behold the sun,

11:8  but if a man lives many years [and] rejoices in them all; yet if afterwards he remembers the days of darkness, for they shall be many, [he shall say] that everything that shall have happened to him [is] vanity.

11:9  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 thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these [things] God will bring thee into judgment.

11:10  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart and put away evil from thy flesh; for childhood and youth [are] vanity.:

Chapter 12

12:1  Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days do not come nor the years draw near when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

12:2  before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain:

12:3  In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves and the grinders cease [because] they are few and those that look out of the windows are darkened;

12:4  and the doors outside shall be shut because the voice of the grinder is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird and all the daughters of song shall be humbled;

12:5  [when] they shall also be afraid of [that which is] high, and fears [shall be] in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and appetite shall fail: because man goes to the home of his age, and the mourners shall go about the streets;

12:6  before the silver chain is broken, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the cistern;

12:7  and the dust returns to the earth as it was [before] and the spirit returns unto God who gave it.

12:8  Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all [is] vanity.

12:9  And the wiser the preacher became that much more did he teach wisdom to the people, causing them to listen and to search [things] out, and he composed many proverbs.

12:10  The preacher sought to find willing words and upright writings, [even] words of truth.

12:11  The words of the wise [are] as goads and as nails hammered into place, those of the teachers of the congregations, [who] are placed under one Shepherd.

12:12  My son, in addition to this, be admonished: of making many books [there is] no end, and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.

12:13  The conclusion of the entire sermon is heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this [is] the whole [happiness] of man.

12:14  For God shall bring every work to judgment with every secret thing, whether [it is] good or whether [it is] evil.: