Ecclesiastes‍⇑^⇑

Chapter One

¶THE WORDS OF‍ ‍the Preach­er, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of van­i­ties, sa­ith the Preacher, van­i­ty of van­i­ties; all is‍ ‍vanity. What prof­it hath a man of all his la­bour which he tak­eth‍⇑ un­der the sun? One gen­er­a­tion pass­eth away, and an­oth­er gen­er­a­tion com­eth: but the earth abid­eth for ever.‍⇑ The sun al­so aris­eth, and the sun go­eth down, and hast­eth to his place where he arose. The wind go­eth to­ward the south, and turn­eth about un­to the north; it whirl­eth about con­tin­u­al­ly, and the wind re­turn­eth again ac­cord­ing to his‍ ‍cir­cuits.‍⇑ All the riv­ers run in­to the sea; yet the sea is not full; un­to the place from whence the riv­ers come, thith­er they re­turn‍⇑‍ ‍again. All things are (so)‍ ‍full of la­bour;‍⇑ (that) man can­not ut­ter it: the eye is not sat­is­fied with see­ing, nor the ear filled with hearing. The thing that hath 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. Is there any thing where­of it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been al­rea­dy of old time, which was be­fore us. 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.(’) ¶ I the Preach­er was king over Is­ra­el in Jerusalem. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wis­dom con­cern­ing all things that are done un­der (the) heav­en‍(s)‍: this sore tra­vail hath ⟨God⟩ giv­en to the sons of man to be ex­er­cised therewith. I have seen all the works that are done un­der the sun; and, be­hold, all is van­i­ty and vex­a­tion of spirit. That which is crook­ed can­not be made straight: and that which is want­ing can­not be numbered. I com­muned with mine own heart, say­ing, Lo, I am come to great es­tate, and have got­ten more wis­dom than all they that have been be­fore me in Je­ru­sa­lem: yea, my heart had great ex­pe­ri­ence of wis­dom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wis­dom, and to know mad­ness and fol­ly; I per­ceived that this al­so is vex­a­tion of spirit. For in much wis­dom is‍ ‍much grief: and he that in­creas­eth knowl­edge in­creas­eth sorrow. Chapter Two ¶ I SAID IN MINE‍ ‍heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, there­fore en­joy plea­sure: and, be­hold, this also is‍ ‍vanity. I said of laugh­ter, It is mad: and of mirth, What do­eth it? I sought in mine heart to give my­self un­to wine, yet ac­quaint­ing mine heart with wis­dom; and to lay hold on fol­ly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do un­der the (first) heav­en all the days of their life. I made me great works; I build­ed me houses; I plant­ed me vineyards: I made me gar­dens and or­chards, and I plant­ed trees in them of all kinds of fruits: I made me pools of wa­ter, to‍ ‍wa­ter there­with the wood that bring­eth forth trees: I got me serv­ants and maid­ens, and had serv­ants born in my house; al­so I had great pos­ses­sions of great and small cat­tle above all that were in Je­ru­sa­lem be­fore me: I gath­ered me al­so sil­ver and gold, and the pe­cu­liar trea­sure of kings and of the prov­inc­es: I gat(sic)‌me men sing­ers and wom­en sing­ers, and the de­lights of the sons of men, as mu­sic­al in­stru­ments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and in­creased more than all that were be­fore me in Je­ru­sa­lem: al­so my wis­dom re­mained with me. And what­so­ever mine eyes de­sired I kept not from them, I with­held not 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 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. ¶ And I turned my­self to be­hold wis­dom, and mad­ness, and fol­ly: for what can the man do that com­eth af­ter the king? even‍⇑ that which hath been al­rea­dy done. Then I saw that wis­dom ex­cel­leth fol­ly, as far as light ex­cel­leth darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walk­eth in dark­ness: and I my­self per­ceived al­so that one event hap­pen­eth to them all. Then said I in my heart, As it hap­pen­eth to the fool, so it hap­pen­eth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this al­so is vanity. 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 how di­eth the wise man? (the same) as the fool. Therefore I hat­ed life; be­cause the work that is wrought un­der the sun is griev­ous un­to me: for all is vanity and vex­a­tion of spirit. ¶ Yea, I hat­ed all my la­bour which I had tak­en un­der the sun: be­cause I should leave it un­to the man that shall be af­ter me. And who know­eth wheth­er he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my la­bour where­in I have la­boured, and where­in I have shewed my­self wise un­der the sun. This is al­so 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 in wis­dom, and in knowl­edge and in‍ ‍eq­ui­ty;‍⇑ yet to a man that hath not la­boured there­in shall he leave it for his por­tion.‍⇑ This al­so is vanity and a great evil. For what hath man of all his la­bour, and of the vex­a­tion of his heart, where­in he hath la­boured un­der the sun? For all his days are sor­rows, and his tra­vail grief; yea, his heart tak­eth not rest in the night. This is al­so 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. This al­so I saw, that it was from the hand of ⟨God⟩. For who can eat, or who else can has­ten here­un­to, more than I? For ⟨God⟩ giv­eth to a man that (which) is good in his sight wis­dom, and knowl­edge, and joy: but to the sin­ner he giv­eth tra­vail, to gath­er and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good be­fore ⟨God⟩. This al­so is van­i­ty and vex­a­tion of spirit. Chapter Three ¶TO EVERY THING there is a sea­son, and a time to ev­ery pur­pose un­der the heaven‍(s)‍: 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 ‍get,‍⇑ 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 hath he that work­eth in that where­in he laboureth? I have seen the tra­vail, which ⟨God⟩ hath giv­en to the sons of men to be ex­er­cised in it. He hath made ev­ery thing beau­ti­ful in his time: al­so he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that ⟨God⟩ mak­eth from the be­gin­ning to the end. I know that there is no good in‍ ‍them,‍⇑ but for a man to re­joice, and to do good in his life. And al­so that ev­ery man should eat and drink, and en­joy the good of all his la­bour, it is the gift of ⟨God⟩. I know that, what­so­ever ⟨God⟩ do­eth, it shall be for ever: noth­ing can be put to it, nor any­thing tak­en from it: and ⟨God⟩ do­eth it, that men should fear be­fore him. That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath al­rea­dy been; and ⟨God⟩ re­quir­eth‍⇑ that which is past.‍⇑ And more­over I saw un­der the sun the place of judg­ment, that wick­ed­ness was there; and the place of‍ ‍righ­teous­ness,‍⇑ that in­iq­ui­ty‍⇑ was there. I said in mine 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 mine heart con­cern­ing the es­tate of the sons of men, that ⟨God⟩ might man­i­fest them, and that they might see that they them­selves are beasts. For that which be­fall­eth the sons of men be­fall­eth beasts; even one thing be­fall­eth them: as the one di­eth, so di­eth the oth­er; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no pre­em­i­nence above a beast: for all is vanity. All (physical bodies) go un­to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who know­eth the spir­it of man that go­eth up­ward, and the spir­it of the beast that go­eth down­ward to the earth? Wherefore I per­ceive that there is noth­ing bet­ter, than that a man should re­joice in his own works; for that is his por­tion: for who (else but our Creator) shall bring him to see what shall be af­ter him? Chapter Four ¶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 (yet); and on the side of their op­pres­sors there was pow­er; but they had no comforter (at all). Wherefore I praised the dead which are al­rea­dy dead more than the liv­ing which are yet alive. Yea, bet­ter is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done un­der the sun. ¶ 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. ¶ The fool fold­eth his hands to­geth­er, and eat­eth his own flesh. Better is an hand­ful with quiet­ness, than both the hands full with tra­vail and vex­a­tion of spirit. ¶ Then I re­turned, and I saw van­i­ty un­der the sun. There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath nei­ther child nor broth­er: yet is there no end of all his la­bour; nei­ther sa­ith he, For whom do I la­bour, and be­reave‍⇑ my soul of good? This is al­so van­i­ty, yea, it is a‍ ‍sore‍⇑‍ ‍travail. ¶ 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 fall­eth; for he hath not an­oth­er to help him up. Again, if two lie to­geth­er, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one pre­vail against him, two shall with­stand him; and a three­fold cord is not quick­ly broken. ¶ Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and fool­ish king, who will no more be admonished. For out of pris­on he com­eth to reign; where­as al­so he that is born in his king­dom be­com­eth poor. I con­sid­ered all the liv­ing which walk un­der the sun, with the sec­ond child that shall stand up in his stead. There is no end of all the peo­ple, even of all that have been be­fore them: they al­so that come af­ter shall not re­joice in him. Sure­ly this al­so is van­i­ty and vex­a­tion of spirit. Chapter Five ¶ KEEP THY FOOT when thou go­est to the house of ⟨God⟩, and be more rea­dy to hear, than to give the sac­ri­fice of fools: for they con­sid­er not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be has­ty to ut­ter any thing be­fore ⟨God⟩: for ⟨God⟩ is in‍ ‍(the third) heav­en, and thou up­on the earth: there­fore let thy words be few. For a dream com­eth through the mul­ti­tude of bus­i­ness; and a fool’s voice is known by mul­ti­tude of words. When thou vow­est a vow un­to ⟨God⟩, de­fer not to pay it; for he hath no pleas­ure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou should­est not vow, than that thou should­est vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; nei­ther say thou be­fore the an­gel, that it was an er­ror: where­fore should ⟨God⟩ be an­gry at thy voice, and de­stroy the work of thine hands? For in the mul­ti­tude of dreams and ma­ny words there are al­so divers‍(e) van­i­ties: but fear thou ⟨God⟩. ¶ If thou seest the op­pres­sion of the poor, and vi­o­lent per­vert­ing of judg­ment and jus­tice in a prov­ince, mar­vel not at the mat­ter: for he that is high­er than the high­est re­gard­eth; and there be high­er than they. ¶ Moreover the prof­it of the earth is for all: the king him­self is served by the field. He that lov­eth sil­ver shall not be sat­is­fied with sil­ver; nor he that lov­eth abun­dance with in­crease: this is al­so van­i­ty. When goods in­crease, they are in­creased that eat them: and what good is there to the own­ers there­of, sav­ing the be­hold­ing of them with their eyes? The sleep of a la­bour­ing man is sweet, wheth­er he eat lit­tle or much: but the abun­dance 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 the own­ers there­of to their hurt. But those rich­es per­ish by evil tra­vail: and he be­get­teth a son, and there is noth­ing in his hand. 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. And this al­so is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what prof­it hath he that hath la­boured for the wind? All his days al­so he eat­eth in dark­ness, and he hath much sor­row and wrath with his sickness. ¶ 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 that he tak­eth un­der the sun all the days of his life, which ⟨God⟩ giv­eth him: for it is his portion. Every man al­so to whom ⟨God⟩ hath giv­en rich­es and wealth, and hath giv­en him pow­er to eat there­of, and to take his por­tion, and to re­joice in his la­bour; this is the gift of ⟨God⟩. For he shall not much re­mem­ber the days of his life; be­cause ⟨God⟩ an­swer­eth him in the joy of his heart. Chapter Six ¶THERE IS AN evil which I have seen un­der the sun, and it is com­mon among men: A man to whom ⟨God⟩ hath giv­en rich­es, wealth, and hon­our, so that he want­eth noth­ing for his soul of all that he de­sir­eth, yet ⟨God⟩ giv­eth him not pow­er to eat there­of, but a stran­ger eat­eth it: this is van­i­ty, and it is an evil disease. ¶ If a man be­get an hun­dred chil­dren, and live ma­ny years, so that the days of his years be ma­ny, and his soul be not filled with good, and al­so that he have no bur­i­al; I say, that an un­time­ly birth is bet­ter than he. For he com­eth in with van­i­ty, and de­part­eth in dark­ness, and his name shall be cov­ered with darkness. Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest‍⇑ than the other. Yea, though he live a thou­sand years twice told, yet hath he 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 hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that know­eth to walk be­fore the living? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wan­der­ing of the de­sire: this is al­so van­i­ty and vex­a­tion of spirit. ¶ That which hath been is named al­rea­dy, and it is known that it is man: nei­ther may he con­tend with him that is migh­ti­er than he. Seeing there be ma­ny things that in­crease van­i­ty, what is man the better?‍ ‍[⇒]   For who know­eth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spend­eth as a shad­ow? for who can tell a man what shall be af­ter him un­der the sun? Chapter Seven ¶ A GOOD NAME is bet­ter than pre­cious oint­ment; and the day of‍ ‍(one’s) death (is‍ ‍bet­ter) 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 better. 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 mak­eth a wise man mad; and a gift de­stroy­eth the heart. Better is the end of a thing than the be­gin­ning there­of: and the pa­tient in spir­it is bet­ter than the proud in spirit. Be not hasty in thy spir­it to be an­gry: for an­ger rest­eth in the bos­om of fools. Say not thou, What is the cause that the form­er days were bet­ter than these? for thou dost not en­quire 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 giv­eth life to them that have it. Consider the work of ⟨God⟩: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? In the day of pros­per­i­ty be joy­ful, but in the day of ad­vers­i­ty con­sid­er: ⟨God⟩ al­so hath set the one over against 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 that per­ish­eth‍⇑ in his righ­teous­ness,‍⇑ and there is a wick­ed man that pro­long­eth his life in his wickedness. Be not righ­teous‍⇑ over much; nei­ther make thy­self over wise: why should­est thou de­stroy thyself? Be not over much wick­ed, nei­ther be thou fool­ish: why should­est thou die be­fore thy time. It is good that thou should­est take hold of this; yea, al­so from this with­draw not thine hand: for he that fear­eth ⟨God⟩ shall come forth of them all. Wisdom strength­en­eth the wise more than ten migh­ty men which are in the city. For there is not a just man up­on earth, that do­eth good, and sin­neth not. Also take no heed un­to all words that are spo­ken; lest thou hear thy serv­ant curse thee: For of­ten­times al­so thine own heart know­eth that thou thy­self like­wise hast 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 ap­plied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wis­dom, and the rea­son of things, and to know the wick­ed­ness of fol­ly, even of fool­ish­ness and madness: And I find more bit­ter than death the wom­an, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: who­so pleas­eth ⟨God⟩ shall es­ccape from her; but the sin­ner shall be tak­en by her. Behold, this have I found, sa­ith the preach­er, count­ing one by one, to find out the account: Which yet my soul seek­eth, but I find not: one man among a thou­sand have I found; but a wom­an among all those have I not found. Lo, this on­ly have I found, that ⟨God⟩ hath made man up­right; but they have sought out ma­ny inventions. Chapter Eight ¶WHO IS AS THE wise man? and who know­eth the in­ter­pre­ta­tion of a thing? a man’s wis­dom mak­eth his face to shine, and the bold­ness of his face shall be changed. I coun­sel thee to keep the king’s com­mand­ment, and that in re­gard of the oath of ⟨God⟩. Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he do­eth what­so­ever pleas­eth him. Where the word of a king is, there is pow­er: and who may say un­to him, What do­est thou? Whoso keep­eth the com­mand­ment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart dis­cern­eth both time and judgment. Because to ev­ery pur­pose there is time and judg­ment, there­fore the misery of man is great up­on him. For he know­eth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? There is no man that hath pow­er over the spir­it to re­tain the spir­it; nei­ther hath he pow­er in the day of death: and there is no dis­charge in that war; nei­ther shall wick­ed­ness de­liv­er those that are giv­en to it. All this have I seen, and ap­plied my heart un­to ev­ery work that is done un­der the sun: there is a time where­in one man rul­eth over an­oth­er to his own hurt. And so I saw the wick­ed bur­ied, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were for­got­ten in the city where they had so done: this is al­so 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 an hun­dred times, and his days be pro­longed, yet sure­ly I know that it shall be well with them that fear ⟨God⟩, which fear be­fore him: But it shall not be well with the wick­ed, nei­ther shall he pro­long his days, which are as a shad­ow; be­cause he fear­eth not be­fore ⟨God⟩. There is a van­i­ty which is done up­on the earth; that there be just men, un­to whom it hap­pen­eth ac­cord­ing to the work of the wick­ed; again, there be wick­ed men, to whom it hap­pen­eth ac­cord­ing to the work of‍ ‍the righ­teous:‍⇑ I said that this al­so is vanity. Then I com­mend­ed mirth, be­cause a man hath 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 (all) the days of his life, which ⟨God⟩ giv­eth him un­der the sun. ¶ When I ap­plied mine heart to know wis­dom, and to see the bus­i­ness that is done up­on the earth: (for al­so there is that nei­ther day nor night seeth sleep with‍ ‍his‍⇑‍ ‍eyes:) 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; yea fur­ther; though a‍ ‍wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. Chapter Nine ¶ FOR ALL THIS I con­sid­ered in my heart even to de­clare all this, that the righ­teous,‍⇑ and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of ⟨God⟩: no man know­eth ei­ther love or ha­tred by‍ ‍all that is be­fore them (of any­thing in‍ ‍the‍ ‍world). 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 sac­ri­fic­eth, and to him that sac­ri­fic­eth not: as is the good, so is the sin­ner; and he that swear­eth, as he that fear­eth an oath. There is an evil among all things that are done un­der the sun, that there is one event un­to 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 not any thing, nei­ther have they any more a re­ward; for the mem­o­ry of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their ha­tred, and their en­vy, is now per­ished; nei­ther have they any more a por­tion for ever in any thing that is done un­der the sun. ¶ Go thy way (then), eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a mer­ry heart; for ⟨God⟩ now ac­cept­eth thy works. Let thy gar­ments be al­ways white: and let thy head lack no ointment. Live joy­ful­ly with the wife whom thou lov­est all the days of the life of thy van­i­ty, which he hath giv­en thee un­der the sun, all the days of thy van­i­ty: for that is thy por­tion in this life, and in thy la­bour which thou tak­est un­der the sun. Whatsoever thy hand find­eth to do, do it with thy might: for there is no work, nor de­vice, nor knowl­edge, nor wis­dom, in the grave, whith­er thou goest. ¶ 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 un­der­stand­ing, nor yet fa­vour to men of skill; but time and chance hap­pen­eth to them all. For man al­so know­eth not 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 an evil time, when it fall­eth sud­den­ly up­on them. ¶ This wis­dom have I seen al­so un­der the sun, and it seemed great un­to me: There was a lit­tle city, and few men with­in it; and there came a great king against it, and be­seiged it, and built great bul­warks against it: Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wis­dom de­liv­ered 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 are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rul­eth among fools. Wisdom is bet­ter than wea­pons of war: but one sin­ner de­stroy­eth much good. Chapter Ten ¶ DEAD FLIES CAUSE the oint­ment of the apoth­e­cary to send forth a stink­ing sa­vour: so doth a lit­tle fol­ly him that is in rep­u­ta­tion for wis­dom and honour. A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left. Yea al­so, when he that is a fool walk­eth by the way, his wis­dom fail­eth him, and he sa­ith to ev­ery one that he is a fool. If the spir­it of the rul­er rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for yield­ing pac­i­fi­eth great offences. There is an evil which I have seen un­der the sun, as an er­ror which pro­ceed­eth 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 that dig­geth a pit shall fall in­to it; and who­so break­eth an hedge, a ser­pent shall bite him. Whoso re­mov­eth‍⇑ stones shall be hurt there­with; and he that cleav­eth‍⇑ wood shall be en­dan­gered thereby. If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet‍⇑ the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wis­dom is prof­it­a­ble to direct. Surely the ser­pent will bite with­out en­chant­ment; and a bab­bler is no better. 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 mis­chiev­ous madness. A fool al­so is full of words: a man can­not tell what shall be; and what shall be af­ter him, who can tell him? The la­bour of the fool­ish wear­i­eth ev­ery one of them, be­cause he know­eth not how to go to the city. ¶  Woe‍⇑ to thee, O‍ ‍land, when thy king is a child, and thy princ­es eat in the morning! 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! ¶ By much sloth­ful­ness the build­ing de­cay­eth; and through idle­ness of the hands the house drop­peth through. ¶ A feast is made for laugh­ter, and wine mak­eth mer­ry: but mon­ey an­swer­eth all things. ¶ Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bed­cham­ber: for a bird of the air shall car­ry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. Chapter Eleven ¶ CAST THY BREAD up­on the wa­ters: for thou shalt find it af­ter ma­ny‍ ‍days. Give a por­tion to sev­en, and al­so to eight; for thou know­est not what evil shall be up­on the earth. If the clouds be full of rain, they emp­ty them­selves up­on the earth: and if the tree fall to­ward the south, or to­ward the north, in the place where the tree fall­eth, there it shall be. He that ob­serv­eth the wind shall not sow; and he that re­gard­eth the clouds shall not reap. As thou know­est not what is the way of the spir­it, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou know­est not the works of ⟨God⟩ who mak­eth all. In the morn­ing sow thy seed, and in the eve­ning with­hold not thine hand: for thou know­est not wheth­er (thy seeds) shall pros­per, ei­ther 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: But if a man live ma­ny years, and re­joice in them all; yet let him re­mem­ber the days of dark­ness; for they shall be ma­ny. All that com­eth 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 thine heart,‍⇑ and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou that for all these things ⟨God⟩ will bring thee in­to judgment. Therefore re­move sor­row from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for child­hood and youth are vanity. Chapter Twelve ¶ REMEMBER NOW thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleas­ure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not dark­ened, nor the clouds re­turn af­ter the rain: 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 be darkened, And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grind­ing is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daugh­ters of mu­sick(sic)‌shall be brought low; Also when they shall 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 de­sire shall fail: be­cause man go­eth to his long home, and the mourn­ers go about the streets: Or ever the sil­ver cord be loosed, or the gold­en bowl be bro­ken, or the pitch­er be bro­ken at the foun­tain, or the wheel bro­ken at the cistern. Then shall the dust re­turn to the earth as it was: and the spir­it shall re­turn un­to ⟨God⟩ who gave it. ¶ Vanity of van­i­ties, sa­ith the preach­er; all is‍ ‍vanity. And more­over, be­cause the preach­er was wise, he still taught the peo­ple knowl­edge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in or­der ma­ny proverbs. The preach­er sought to find out ac­cept­able words: and that which was writ­ten was up­right, even words of truth. The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fas­tened by the mas­ters of as­sem­blies, which are giv­en from one shepherd. ¶ And fur­ther, by these, my son, be ad­mon­ished: of mak­ing ma­ny books there is no end; and much study is a‍ ‍wear­i­ness of the flesh. Let us hear the con­clu­sion of the mat­ter: Fear ⟨God⟩, and keep his com­mand­ments: for this 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.   "precept upon precept; line upon line" … - For knowledge shall cease and wisdom fail, but understanding remaineth (if gained from the former).