1. Oppression, Toil, and Companionship

ch4 ¹So 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. ² Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. ³ 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.

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. ⁵ The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh. ⁶ Better [is] an handful [with] quietness, than both the hands full [with] travail and vexation of spirit.

⁷ Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun. ⁸ 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 is his eye satisfied with riches; neither [saith he], For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This [is] also vanity, yea, it [is] a sore travail.

⁹ Two [are] better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. ¹⁰For 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. ¹¹Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm [alone]? ¹²And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

2. From Poverty to the Throne

¹³Better [is] a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished. ¹⁴For out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas also [he that is] born in his kingdom becometh poor. ¹⁵I considered all the living which walk under the sun, with the second child that shall stand up in his stead. ¹⁶[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.

3. Fear God

ch5 ¹Keep 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.

² Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter [any] thing before God: for God [is] in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. ³ For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice [is known] by multitude of words.

⁴ 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. ⁵ Better [is it] that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. ⁶ 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? ⁷ For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.

⁸ 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. ⁹ Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king [himself] is served by the field.

4. Wealth, Riches, and Honor Are Vanity

¹⁰He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity. ¹¹When 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? ¹²The 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.

¹³There is a sore evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. ¹⁴But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand. ¹⁵As 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. ¹⁶And 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? ¹⁷All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

¹⁸Behold [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. ¹⁹Every 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. ²⁰For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.

ch6 ¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it [is] common among men: ² 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.

³ 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. ⁴ For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness. ⁵ Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known [any thing]: this hath more rest than the other. ⁶ Yea, though he live a thousand years twice [told], yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

⁷ All the labour of man [is] for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. ⁸ For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living? ⁹ Better [is] the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit.

¹⁰That 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. ¹¹Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what [is] man the better? ¹²For 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?