Study Desk

So I said in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?" Then I said in my heart, "This also is vanity."

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes?

And this also is a severe evil-- Just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind?

A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he--

For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, So is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.

For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur?

Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten [fn] in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.

So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.

All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;To the good, [fn] the clean, and the unclean;To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.As is the good, so is the sinner;He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them.

Dead flies putrefy [fn] the perfumer's ointment,And cause it to give off a foul odor;So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.

As you do not know what is the way of the wind, [fn] Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child,So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.

Like a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters.

Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste.

What is your beloved More than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved More than another beloved, That you so charge us?