אַ֫יִן

Whoever gives to the poor will not be in need, but he who hides his eyes will receive many curses.

A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.

If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution.

Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the Law.

A servant cannot be corrected by words alone; though he understands, he will not respond.

…the locusts have no king, yet they all advance in formation;

All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.

What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.

Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!

Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God.

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live,

I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him.

For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.

I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?

Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.

For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up!

There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.

The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.

…or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.

Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.

Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—

So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.

As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.

Sow your seed in the morning, and do not rest your hands in the evening, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or if both will equally prosper.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”

And by these, my son, be further warned: There is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.