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ECCLESIASTES
CHAPTER
1
1
¶ The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
3 What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun?
4 ¶ One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth
for ever.
5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where
he ariseth.
6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth
about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits.
7 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place
whither the rivers go, thither they go again.
8 All things are full of weariness; man cannot utter [it]: the eye is not
satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 ¶ That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done
is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
10 Is there a thing whereof men say, See, this is new? it hath been already, in
the ages which were before us.
11 There is no remembrance of the former [generations]; neither shall there be
any remembrance of the latter [generations] that are to come, among those that
shall come after.
12 ¶ I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all
that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons
of men to be exercised therewith.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is
vanity and a striving after wind.
15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting
cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom
above all that were before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart hath had great
experience of wisdom and knowledge.
17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I
perceived that this also was a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth
sorrow.
CHAPTER
2
1 ¶ I SAID in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore
enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.
2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
3 I searched in mine heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, mine heart yet
guiding [me] with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it
was good for the sons of men that they should do under the heaven all the days
of their life.
4 I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards;
5 I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of
fruit:
6 I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were
reared:
7 I bought menservants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I
had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all that were before me in
Jerusalem:
8 I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of
the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the
sons of men, concubines very many.
9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem:
also my wisdom remained with me.
10 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them: I withheld not my
heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour; and this was
my portion from all my labour.
11 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 a striving after
wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
12 ¶ 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.
13 Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and
yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all.
15 Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even
to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also was
vanity.
16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever;
seeing that in the days to come all will have been already forgotten. And how
doth the wise man die even as the fool!
17 ¶ So I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun was
grievous unto me: for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
18 And I hated all my labour wherein I laboured under the sun: seeing that I
must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 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
wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
20 Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the
labour wherein I had laboured under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with
skilfulness; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for
his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what hath a man of all his labour, and of the striving of his heart,
wherein he laboureth under the sun?
23 For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in
the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and
make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it is from the
hand of God.
25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?
26 For to the man that pleaseth him [God] giveth 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 pleaseth God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
CHAPTER
3
1 ¶ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the
heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up
that which is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build
up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to
embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to
speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
10 I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be
exercised therewith.
11 ¶ He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world
in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from
the beginning even to the end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good
so long as they live.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his
labour, is the gift of God.
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put
to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God hath done it, that men should fear
before him.
15 That which is hath been already; and that which is to be hath already been:
and God seeketh again that which is passed away.
16 ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of judgment, that
wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was
there.
17 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.
18 I said in mine heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove
them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts.
19 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; and man hath no preeminence above the beasts: for all is vanity.
20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the
beast whether it goeth downward to the earth?
22 Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice
in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him [back] to see
what shall be after him?
CHAPTER
4
1 ¶ Then I returned and saw 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 than them both [did I esteem] him which hath not yet been, who
hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
4 ¶ Then I saw all labour and every skilful work, that for this a man is envied
of his neighbour. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
5 The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.
6 Better is an handful with quietness, than two handfuls with labour and
striving after wind.
7 ¶ Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.
8 There is one that is alone, and he hath not a second; yea, he hath neither son
nor brother; yet is there no end of all his labour, neither are his eyes
satisfied with riches. For whom then, [saith he], do I labour, and deprive my
soul of good? This also is vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is
alone when he falleth, and hath not another to lift him up.
11 Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth: but how can one be warm
[alone]?
12 And if a man prevail against him that is alone, two shall withstand him; and
a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
13 ¶ Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king, who knoweth
not how to receive admonition any more.
14 For out of prison he came forth to be king; yea, even in his kingdom he was
born poor.
15 I saw all the living which walk under the sun, that they were with the youth,
the second, that stood up in his stead.
16 There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was: yet
they that come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a
striving after wind.
CHAPTER
5
1 ¶ Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear
is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do
evil.
2 Be not rash with thy month, 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 with a multitude of business; and a fool’s voice with a
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 vowest.
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 [thus it cometh to pass] through the multitude of dreams and vanities and
many words: but fear thou God.
8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of
judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for one higher
than the high 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.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth
abundance with increase: this also is vanity.
11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what advantage is
there to the owner thereof, saving the beholding [of them] with his eyes?
12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the
fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
13 There is a grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches
kept by the owner thereof to his hurt:
14 and those riches perish by evil adventure; and if he hath begotten a son,
there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came,
and shall take nothing for his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he
go: and what profit hath he that he laboureth for the wind?
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed and hath
sickness and wrath.
18 ¶ Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to
eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labour, wherein he laboureth
under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is
his portion.
19 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.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth
[him] in the joy of his heart.
CHAPTER
6
1 ¶ There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:
2 a man to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, so that he lacketh
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, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no
burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
4 for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is
covered with darkness;
5 moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the
other:
6 yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy 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 advantage hath the wise more than the fool? [or] what hath the poor
man, that knoweth to walk before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is
vanity and a striving after wind.
10 Whatsoever hath been, the name thereof was given long ago, and it is known
that it is man: neither can he contend with him that is mightier than he.
11 ¶ Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
12 For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] 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
7
1 ¶ A [GOOD] name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than
the day of one’s birth.
2 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.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the
heart is made glad.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is
in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song
of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool:
this also is vanity.
7 ¶ Surely extortion maketh a wise man foolish; and a gift destroyeth the
understanding.
8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: [and] the patient in
spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of
fools.
10 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these?
for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.
11 ¶ Wisdom is as good as an inheritance: yea, more excellent is it for them
that see the sun.
12 For wisdom is a defence, even as money is a defence: but the excellency of
knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it.
13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made
crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God
hath even made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should
not find out any thing [that shall be] after him.
15 All this have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a righteous man that
perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth [his
life] in his evil–doing.
16 Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest
thou destroy thyself?
17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die
before thy time?
18 It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from that
withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.
19 Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers which are in a
city.
20 Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth
not.
21 Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant
curse thee:
22 for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast
cursed others.
23 ¶ All this have I proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far
from me.
24 That which is is far off, and exceeding deep; who can find it out?
25 I turned about, and my heart [was set] to know and to search out, and to seek
wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know that wickedness is folly, and
that foolishness is madness:
26 And I find a thing more bitter than death, [even] the woman whose heart is
snares and nets, [and] her hands [as] bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape
from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
27 Behold, this have I found, saith the Preacher; [laying] one thing to another,
to find out the account:
28 which my soul still seeketh, but I have not found: one man among a thousand
have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
29 Behold, this only have I found, that God made man upright; but they have
sought out many inventions.
CHAPTER
8
1 ¶ 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 hardness of his face is
changed.
2 I [counsel thee], Keep the king’s command, and that in regard of the oath of
God.
3 Be not hasty to go out of his presence; persist not in an evil thing: for he
doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
4 Because the king’s word [hath] power; and who may say unto him, What doest
thou?
5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall know no evil thing; and a wise man’s
heart discerneth time and judgment:
6 ¶ for to every purpose there is a time and judgment; because the misery of
man is great upon him:
7 for he knoweth not that which shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?
8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither
hath he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in [that] war:
neither shall wickedness deliver him that is given to it.
9 ¶ 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 hath power over another to his
hurt.
10 And withal I saw the wicked buried, and they came [to the grave]; and they
that had done right went away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the
city: this also is vanity.
11 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.
12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and prolong his [days], yet surely
I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
13 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.
14 ¶ There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be righteous
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.
15 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 in his
labour [all] the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun.
16 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:)
17 then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is
done under the sun: because however much a man labour to seek it out, yet he
shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall
he not be able to find it.
CHAPTER
9
1 ¶ For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this; that the
righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: whether it be
love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.
2 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.
3 This is an evil in all that is 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.
4 ¶ For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope: for a living
dog is better than a dead lion.
5 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.
6 As well their love, as 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.
7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for
God hath already accepted thy works.
8 Let thy garments be always white; and let not thy head lack ointment.
9 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 life, and in thy labour wherein thou labourest under the
sun.
10 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.
11 ¶ 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 fame and chance happeneth
to them all.
12 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, even so, are the sons of men
snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
13 ¶ I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great
unto me:
14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king
against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:
15 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.
16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s
wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 The words of the wise [spoken] in quiet are heard more than the cry of him
that ruleth among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
CHAPTER
10
1 ¶ Dead flies cause the ointment of the perfumer to send forth a stinking
savour: [so] doth a little folly outweigh wisdom and honour.
2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand; but a fool’s heart at his left.
3 Yea also, when the fool walketh by the way, his understanding faileth him, and
he saith to every one [that] he is a fool.
4 ¶ If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for
yielding allayeth great offences.
5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which
proceedeth from the ruler:
6 folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.
7 I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the
earth.
8 He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh through a fence,
a serpent shall bite him.
9 Whoso heweth out stones shall be hurt therewith; [and] he that cleaveth wood
is endangered thereby.
10 If the iron be blunt, and one do not whet the edge, then must he put to more
strength: but wisdom is profitable to direct.
11 If the serpent bite before it be charmed, then is there no advantage in the
charmer.
12 ¶ The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool
will swallow up himself.
13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his
talk is mischievous madness.
14 A fool also multiplieth words: [yet] man knoweth not what shall be; and that
which shall be after him, who can tell him?
15 The labour of fools wearieth every one of them, for he knoweth not how to go
to the city.
16 ¶ Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy princes eat in the
morning!
17 Happy 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!
18 By slothfulness the roof sinketh in; and through idleness of the hands the
house leaketh.
19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh glad the life: and money
answereth all things.
20 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
11
1 ¶ Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight; for thou knowest not what evil
shall be upon the earth.
3 If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if a
tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree
falleth, there shall it be.
4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds
shall not reap.
5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, [nor] how the bones [do grow]
in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the work of God
who doeth all.
6 In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for
thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both
shall be alike good.
7 ¶ Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold
the sun.
8 Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him
remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is
vanity.
9 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.
10 Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for
youth and the prime of life are vanity.
CHAPTER
12
1 ¶ Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, or ever the evil days
come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 or ever the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, be darkened, and
the clouds return after the rain:
3 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,
4 and the door shall be shut in the street; when the sound of the grinding is
low, and one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of
music shall be brought low;
5 yea, they shall be afraid of [that which is] high, and terrors [shall be] in
the way; and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a
burden, and the caper–berry shall fail: because man goeth to his long home,
and the mourners go about the streets:
6 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;
7 and the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who
gave it.
8 ¶ Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.
9 And further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people
knowledge; yea, he pondered, and sought out, [and] set in order many proverbs.
10 The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written
uprightly, [even] words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened are [the words
of] the masters of assemblies, [which] are given from one shepherd.
12 And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end;
and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 ¶ [This is] the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep
his commandments; for this is the whole [duty] of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil.
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