1For all this I gave to my heart, even to make clear all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether love, whether hatred, the man (adam) does not know; all is before them.
2All is as to all: one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean, and to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice; as the good, so the sinner; he who swears, as he who fears an oath.
3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one event is to all; and also the heart of the sons of man (adam) is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while in their life (chai), and after it — to the dead.
4For whoever is joined to all the living (chai), there is hope; for a living (chai) dog, it is better than the dead lion.
5For the living (chai) know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and there is no more reward for them, for their memory is forgotten.
6Also their love, also their hatred, also their envy, has already perished; and a portion they have no more, forever, in all that is done under the sun.
7Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a good heart; for already God has accepted your works.
8At all time let your garments be white, and let oil not lack upon your head.
9See life (chai) with the woman (ishah) whom you love, all the days of the life (chai) of your vanity which He has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity; for it is your portion in life (chai), and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.
10All that your hand finds to do, do in your strength; for there is no work, nor reckoning, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.
11I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, and the battle is not to the mighty, and also bread is not to the wise, and also riches are not to the understanding, and also favor is not to those who know; for time and chance happen to them all.
12For also the man (adam) does not know his time; like the fish that are caught in an evil net, and like the birds that are seized in the snare, like them are the sons of man (adam) snared at an evil time, when it falls upon them suddenly.
13Also this I saw as wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
14a little city, and few men (ish) in it; and a great king came against it, and surrounded it, and built against it great siege-works.
15And there was found in it a poor wise man (ish), and he, by his wisdom, delivered the city; yet no man (adam) remembered that poor man (ish).
16And I said, I: Wisdom is better than might; yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.
17The words of the wise, in quiet, are heard more than the cry of a ruler among fools.
18Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.