Ecclesiastes (Kohelet)

This is what I have seen that is good: the beauty of eating and drinking and 17 seeing some good of all the labor one toils over beneath the sun, all the days of the life God has given one — for this is one’s share. For if God gives any man 18 wealth and belongings, and grants him the power to eat of them, to take hold ofwhatis his, to take pleasure in his labors - that is a gift from God. For he will 19 not think too much about the days of his life; for God has given him the joy of his heart to be occupied with. 1 There is an evil I have seen beneath the sun, and it is rife among men. There will be a man to whom God gives wealth and possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires. And then God will not grant him the power to partake of it, and a stranger will consume it all; this is shallow breath and an evil sickness. 3 Andaman may have a hundred children and live for many years, and as many as his years may be, his soul will never be satisfied with all that goodness; though he may not receive even a burial, I say a stillborn child is better off 4 thanhe. For he came ata breath and leaves in darkness, and in darkness is his 5 name covered over. That child will never see sunlight and never know; and yet 6 he has more peace than such a man. If one lives a thousand years twice over, and sees no goodness - well, do we not all go to the same place in the end? 7 All of man’s labor is only for his mouth; his soul will never be filled. What advantage does a wise man hold over a fool? And what does an oppressed man 9 profit from knowing how to walk with life? Better what the eyes can see than what the soul goes walking after. Both are empty breath and courting the wind. 10 Whatever has been was called forth by name - and it is known by now that 11 this is but aman, who cannot contend with one more powerful than he. There are so many things, such proliferation of empty breath, and what profit do 12 they bring to man? For who knows what is good for a man in his lifetime; during the numbered days of his breath, that he lives as a shadow; for who can tell what his fate will be beneath the sun? 7} Better a good name than fine oil. Better the day of death than of birth. Better to frequent a house of mourning than a feast; for that is the end of all men, 3 and the living had better keep that in mind. Better bitterness than laughter, 4 for while the face is troubled, the mind is bettering itself. A wise man’s heart 5 isin the house of mourning, and a 1001 is in the house of celebration. Better 6 toheed the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. For those fools’ cackling is like the crackling of thorns under the pot. And that too is empty 7 breath. For oppression turns a wise man delirious, and bribery comes at the cost of one’s mind.