Ecclesiastes (Kohelet)

2 than honor - is one small dose of foolishness. A wise man’s mind is to his 3 right hand; and the mind of a fool to his left. Even as he walks along the way, a fool's mind is missing, telling every passerby that he is a fool. + Ifa ruler’s spirit turns against you, do not leave your place, for appease- = 5 ment can lay great sins to rest. Here is an evil I have seen beneath the sun, 6 like an error coming forth from the ruler’s mouth: fools are raised to the 7 greatest heights, while rich men sit in the gutter. I have seen slaves riding on horseback, and princes walking like slaves on the ground. 8 He who digs the pit may fall into it, and he who tears down walls — a snake 9 may bite him. He who quarries the stone will come to grief by it; and he 10 who chops the tree may by that tree be harmed. If the axe grows blunt and is not polished, then the one who wields it must add force; for skill yields 11 profit only through wisdom. If the snake that cannot be charmed bites, 12 there is no profit to the charmer then. The words of the wise bring favor, 13 while the lips of a fool will swallow him up. His speech begins with fool- 14 ishness, and ends with evil delirium. Yet the fool speaks on and on. Man does not know what will be; yes, who may tell him what will come after? 15 The labor of fools exhausts them; they know not even the way to the city. 16 I pity you, the land whose king is a boy, whose princes feast in the morning. 17 Happy the land whose king is a nobleman, and whose princes eat at the right 18 time, strong, without drunkenness. The roof caves in for much laziness; and 19 hands laid down spring leaks in the house. Feasts are made for laughter, and wine fills life with joy - and money will answer for everything. 20 Never curse a king, not even in your mind, nor a rich man, even in your innermost room. For a bird of the sky will carry that voice; a winged crea- ture will repeat the word. 111 Cast your bread out onto the waters, for in the long passage of days you will 2 find it again. Give of what is yours to seven, to eight, for on this earth you 3 cannot know what evil may yet come. If the clouds fill with rain, they must empty it onto the earth. Ifa tree falls to the south, to the north — wherever + that tree falls, there it will lie. One who watches for the wind will never sow; Sone who gazes at the clouds will never reap. And just as you know not the way of the wind, nor what frame fills a pregnant woman’s womb, so you 6 cannot know the work of God; and everything is His work. Sow your seeds in the morning, and by evening do not lay your hands down - for you do not know which will prove fit, these seeds or those, or whether the two are