Ecclesiastes

Ecc 1
The words of the Preacher, the house-continuer of Daviyd, king in Yerusalem:
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun? One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the land remains to the horizon. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there a thing of which it may be said, Behold, this is new? It has been long ago, during the horizons which were before us. There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.
I, the Preacher, was king over Yisrael in Yerusalem. I applied my inner-guide to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is an experience of what is dysfunctional that the Mightiest-Yoked-One has given to the house-continuers of men to be afflicted with. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted. I said to myself, Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Yerusalem. Yes, my inner-guide has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. I applied my inner-guide to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Ecc 2
I said in my inner-guide, Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure; and behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, It is foolishness; and of mirth, What does it accomplish?
I searched in my inner-guide how to cheer my flesh with wine, my inner-guide yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see where what is functional may be for the house-continuers of men that they should do under the sky all the days of their lives. I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and paradises, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. I made myself pools of water, for the forest to drink where trees were reared. I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Yerusalem; I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the house-continuers of men—musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Yerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my inner-guide from any joy, for my inner-guide rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor. Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. Then I said in my inner-guide, As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my inner-guide that this also is vanity. For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory to the horizon, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
So I hated a filled-stomach, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind. I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
Therefore I began to cause my inner-guide to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great dysfunction. For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his inner-guide, in which he labors under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his inner-guide takes no rest. This also is vanity. There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his breathing-throat enjoy what is functional in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of the Mightiest-Yoked-One. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? For to the man who pleases him, the Mightiest-Yoked-One gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the one who misses-the-target he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases the Mightiest-Yoked-One. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Ecc 3
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the sky:
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 tear, 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 for war, and a time for peace.
What profit has he who works in that in which he labors? I have seen the burden which the Mightiest-Yoked-One has given to the house-continuers of men to be afflicted with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their inner-guides, yet so that man can’t find out the work that the Mightiest-Yoked-One has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do what is functional as long as they have-a-filled-stomach. Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy what is functional in all his labor, is the bent-knee-present of the Mightiest-Yoked-One. I know that whatever the Mightiest-Yoked-One does, it shall be to the horizon. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and the Mightiest-Yoked-One has done it, that men should inwardly-flow before him. That which is has been long ago, and that which is to be has been long ago: and the Mightiest-Yoked-One seeks again that which is passed away.
Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of straight-pathedness, that wickedness was there. I said in my inner-guide, The Mightiest-Yoked-One will judge the straight-pathed and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. I said in my inner-guide, As for the house-continuers of men, the Mightiest-Yoked-One tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals. For that which happens to the house-continuers of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one wind; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows the wind of man, whether it goes upward, and the wind of the animal, whether it goes downward to the land?
Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?
Ecc 4
Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the filled-stomachs who are yet alive. Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the dysfunctional work that is done under the sun. Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself. Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and chasing after wind.
Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. There is one who is alone, and he has neither house-continuer nor male-house-protector. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. For whom then, do I labor, and deprive my breathing-throat of enjoyment? This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.
Two are better than one, because they have a functional reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and doesn’t have another to lift him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth; but how can one keep warm alone? If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who doesn’t know how to receive admonition any more. For out of prison he came forth to be king; yes, even in his kingdom he was born poor. I saw all the filled-stomachs who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the other, who succeeded him. There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was—yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Ecc 5
Guard your steps when you go to the Mightiest-Yoked-One’s house; for to draw near to hear is better than to give the slaughter of fools, for they don’t know that they do what is dysfunctional. Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your inner-guide be hasty to utter anything before the Mightiest-Yoked-One; for the Mightiest-Yoked-One is in the sky, and you on land. Therefore let your words be few. For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words. When you vow a vow to the Mightiest-Yoked-One, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay. Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into missed-targets. Don’t protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should the Mightiest-Yoked-One be nose-flared at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words: but you must inwardly-flow-before the Mightiest-Yoked-One.
If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and straight-pathedness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them. Moreover the profit of the land is for all. The king profits from the field.
He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity. When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its possessor, except to feast on them with his eyes?
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
There is a grievous dysfunction which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its possessor to his harm. Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a house-continuer, there is nothing in his hand. As he came forth from his family-binder’s loins, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. This also is a grievous dysfunction, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind? All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.
Behold, that which I have seen to be functional and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy what is functional in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his filled-stomach which the Mightiest-Yoked-One has given him; for this is his portion. Every man also to whom the Mightiest-Yoked-One has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the bent-knee-present of the Mightiest-Yoked-One. For he shall not often reflect on the days of his filled-stomach; because the Mightiest-Yoked-One occupies him with the joy of his inner-guide.
Ecc 6
There is a dysfunction which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men: a man to whom the Mightiest-Yoked-One gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his breathing-throat of all that he desires, yet the Mightiest-Yoked-One gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is a dysfunctional disease.
If a man family-strengtheners a hundred house-builders, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his breathing-throat is not filled with what is functional, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn house-builder 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 it. This has rest rather than the other. Yes, though he have-a-filled-stomach a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy what is functional, don’t all go to one place? All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the breathing-throat is not filled. For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the filled-stomachs? Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the breathing-throat. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he. For there are many words that fatten vanity. What does that profit man? For who knows what is functional for man in a filled-stomach, all the days of his vain filled-stomach which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
Ecc 7
A functional name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death 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 filled-stomachs should take this to inner-guide. Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the inner-guide is made functional. The inner-guide of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the inner-guide 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 extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding. Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.
The patient in wind is better than the proud in wind. Don’t be hasty in your wind to be nose-flared, for nose-flaring rests in the bosom of fools. Don’t say, Why were the former days better than these? For you do not ask wisely about this.
Wisdom is as functional as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun. For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the filled-stomach of him who has it.
Consider the work of the Mightiest-Yoked-One, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, the Mightiest-Yoked-One has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.
All this have I seen in my days of vanity: there is a straight-pathed man who perishes in his straight-pathedness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing. Don’t be overly straight-pathed, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself? Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time? It is functional that you should take hold of this. Yes, also from that don’t withdraw your hand; for he who inwardly-flows-before the Mightiest-Yoked-One will come forth from them all. Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city. Surely there is not a straight-pathed man on land, who does what is functional and doesn’t miss-the-target. Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you; for often your own inner-guide knows that you yourself have likewise cursed others. All this have I proved in wisdom. I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me. That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out? I turned around, and my inner-guide sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
I find more bitter than death the woman whose inner-guide is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases the Mightiest-Yoked-One shall escape from her; but the one who misses-the-target will be ensnared by her.
Behold, I have found this, says the Preacher, one to another, to find out the scheme; which my breathing-throat still seeks; but I have not found. One man among a thousand have I found; but I have not found a woman among all those. Behold, this only have I found: that the Mightiest-Yoked-One made man upright; but they search for many schemes.
Ecc 8
Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. I say, Keep the king’s directive! because of the oath to the Mightiest-Yoked-One. Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in a dysfunctional thing, for he does whatever pleases him, for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, What are you doing? Whoever keeps the directive shall not come to harm, and his wise inner-guide will know the time and procedure. For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him. For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be? There is no man who has power over the wind to contain the wind; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
All this have I seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt. So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from separateness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity. Because sentence against a dysfunctional work is not executed speedily, therefore the inner-guide of the house-continuers of men is fully set in them to do what is dysfunctional. Though a one who misses-the-target commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who inwardly-flow-before the Mightiest-Yoked-One, who are reverent before him. But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn’t inwardly-flow-before the Mightiest-Yoked-One.
There is a vanity which is done on the land, that there are straight-pathed men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the straight-pathed. I said that this also is vanity. Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his filled-stomach which the Mightiest-Yoked-One has given him under the sun.
When I applied my inner-guide to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the land (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes), then I saw all the work of the Mightiest-Yoked-One, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.
Ecc 9
For all this I laid to my inner-guide, even to explore all this: that the straight-pathed, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of the Mightiest-Yoked-One; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the straight-pathed and to the wicked; to the functional, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who slaughters, and to him who doesn’t slaughter. As is the one who is functional, so is the one who misses-the-target; he who takes an oath, as he who inwardly-flows-before an oath. This is a dysfunctional thing in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the inner-guide of the house-continuers of men is full of what is dysfunctional, and madness is in their inner-guide while they have-a-filled-stomach, and after that they go to the dead. For to him who is joined with all the filled-stomachs there is hope; for a filled-stomach dog is better than a dead lion. For the filled-stomachs know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion to the horizon in anything that is done under the sun.
Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry inner-guide; for the Mightiest-Yoked-One has already accepted your works. Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil. Have-a-filled-stomach joyfully with the woman whom you love all the days of your filled-stomach of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in a filled-stomach, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the unseen-realm, where you are going.
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 favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in a dysfunctional net, and as the flyers that are caught in the snare, even so are the house-continuers of men snared in a dysfunctional time, when it falls suddenly on them.
I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then I said, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one one who misses-the-target destroys much of what is functional.
Ecc 10
Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth a dysfunctional odor; so does a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor. A wise man’s inner-guide is at his right hand, but a fool’s inner-guide at his left. Yes also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. If the wind of the ruler rises up against you, don’t leave your place; for gentleness lays great offenses to rest.
There is a dysfunctional thing which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler. Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking like servants on the land. He who digs a pit may fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever carves out stones may be injured by them. Whoever splits wood may be endangered thereby. If the axe is blunt, and one doesn’t sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but skill brings success.
If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer’s tongue. The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but a fool is swallowed by his own lips. The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness; and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. A fool also multiplies words.
Man doesn’t know what will be; and that which will be after him, who can tell him? The labor of fools wearies every one of them; for he doesn’t know how to go to the city.
Woe to you, land, when your king is a house-builder, and your princes eat in the morning! Happy are you, land, when your king is the house-continuer of nobles, and your princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness! By slothfulness the roof sinks in; and through idleness of the hands the house leaks. A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes the filled-stomach glad; and money is the answer for all things. Don’t curse the king, no, not in your thoughts; and don’t curse the rich in your bedroom. For a flyer of the sky may carry your voice, and that which has wings may tell the matter.
Ecc 11
Cast your bread on the waters; for you shall find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, yes, even to eight; for you don’t know what dysfunctional thing will be on the land. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the land; and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be. He who observes the wind won’t sow; and he who regards the clouds won’t reap. As you don’t know what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the loins of her who is with house-builder; even so you don’t know the work of the Mightiest-Yoked-One who does all. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening don’t withhold your hand; for you don’t know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both will be equally functional. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to see the sun. Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.
Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your inner-guide cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your inner-guide, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things the Mightiest-Yoked-One will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your inner-guide, and put away what is dysfunctional from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of a filled-stomach are vanity.
Ecc 12
Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the dysfunctional days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, I have no pleasure in them; Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened, and 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 who look out of the windows are darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a flyer, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low; yes, they shall be afraid of heights, and terrors will be in the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goes to his horizonal home, and the mourners go about the streets.
Before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the spring, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the land as it was, and the wind returns to the Mightiest-Yoked-One who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher. All is vanity!
Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he gave ear to, sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads; and like nails well fastened are words from the masters of called-out-assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. Furthermore, my house-continuer, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Inwardly-flow-before the Mightiest-Yoked-One, and keep his directives; for this is the whole duty of man. For the Mightiest-Yoked-One will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is functional, or whether it is dysfunctional.