Ecclesiastes (Kohelet)

3 I say; and the word of your oath to God. Do not take flight; walk clear away; do not be present when evil is brewing, for a king will do what it pleases 4 him to do. For a king’s word is rule, and who can say to him, “What is it 5 you do?” One who heeds the command will know no harm; and a wise 6 mind will know justice in its time. For every deed has its time and its 7 judgment - for great is the evil man must suffer - for man cannot know 8 what will be; for who would tell him what may be? Man has no power over the wind, he cannot cage up the wind; no one rules on the day of death, and no one will take your place in battle, and evil will not save those who perform it. 9 All this have I seen, and I took it to heart; all that is done here beneath the 10 sun, wherever man wields power over man to harm him. As I observed, I saw wicked men buried honorably, processed away from a holy place; while those who acted with decency are forgotten from the town — here 11 again: shallow breath. For it is not soon that judgment is passed after evil, 12 and soa person’s mind is filled with thoughts of doing evil. A sinner does a hundred evils and is granted long years for it. Yes, 1 know that good will 13 come to those who fear God, for fearing Him. And good will not come to an evil man, and he will not live long — he passes like a shadow, for he does not fear God. 14 Yet see this thing of breath that happens on this earth: the righteous to whom the same arrives as to the wicked; and the wicked to whom the same 1s_as the righteous comes — and I say: Here again is empty breath. And so I praise joy - for there is no good for man beneath the sun, but to eat and drink and be joyful. This is what he has to accompany him in his labors, 16 through that life that God has given him beneath the sun. When I set my mind to knowing wisdom; to seeing what it is that is done upon this 17 earth - and all day, all night, no sleep do one’s eyes see - I saw all the work of God; saw that no man can fathom out the work that is done beneath the sun. One labors to seek it out and will never find it; if a wise man says he knows — no; and never will he be able to find out. 91 Allthis I tookinto my mind, trying to understand, all this: that the righteous and the wise and all their actions - all are in the hand of God. Their love, 2. their hate, none of it is known; it is all just placed before them. All is as it is