1
For all this I gave to my heart, to examine all this: that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of Elohim. Whether love or hatred, Adam does not know; all is before them.
2
All is alike for all. One event comes to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean, to the one who sacrifices and to the one who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; as is the one who swears, so is the one who fears an oath.
3
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: one event comes to all. And also the heart of the sons of Adam is full of evil, and madness is in their heart during their lives, and afterward they go to the dead.
4
For whoever is joined to all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5
For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing. And there is no longer a reward for them, for their remembrance is forgotten.
6
Their love, their hatred, and their jealousy have already perished. And they no longer have a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
7
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a good heart, for Elohim has already accepted your works.
8
Let your garments be white at all times, and let oil not be lacking upon your head.
9
See life with the ishah whom you love all the days of your life of vapor which He has given you under the sun, all the days of your vapor. For this is your portion in life and in your labor with which you labor under the sun.
10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your strength. For there is no work, nor planning, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.
11
I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the mighty, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to those of understanding, nor favor to those who know. For time and event happen to them all.
12
For Adam also does not know his time. Like fish caught in an evil net, and like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of Adam are trapped in an evil time when it falls upon them suddenly.
13
This wisdom also I saw under the sun, and it was great in my eyes.
14
There was a little city with few men in it. And a great king came against it, surrounded it, and built against it great siegeworks.
15
Now there was found in it a poor wise ish, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. Yet no Adam remembered that poor ish.
16
And I said: Wisdom is better than might, yet the wisdom of the poor ish is despised, and his words are not heard.
17
The words of the wise, heard in quiet, are better than the cry of a ruler among fools.
18
Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.