Ecclesiastes 1:12-6:9

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

I. Qoheleth’s Investigation of Life

Twofold Introduction. ¹² I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, ¹³ and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun.^(A)

¹⁴ I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.^[a](B)

^16 (C)Though I said to myself, “See, I have greatly increased my wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge,” ¹⁷ yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.^(D)

Chapter 2

Study of Pleasure-seeking. ¹ I said in my heart,^[d] “Come, now, let me try you with pleasure and the enjoyment of good things.” See, this too was vanity. ² Of laughter I said: “Mad!” and of mirth: “What good does this do?” ³ Guided by wisdom,^[e] I probed with my mind how to beguile my senses with wine and take up folly, until I should understand what is good for human beings to do under the heavens during the limited days of their lives.

⁴ I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards; ⁵ I made gardens and parks, and in them set out fruit trees of all sorts. ⁶ And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water a flourishing woodland. ⁷ I acquired male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasures of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and delights of men, many women.^{[f] 9} I accumulated much more than all others before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom, too, stayed with me. ¹⁰ Nothing that my eyes desired did I deny them, nor did I deprive myself of any joy; rather, my heart rejoiced in the fruit of all my toil. This was my share for all my toil. ^11 (E)But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the fruit of the toil for which I had toiled so much, see! all was vanity and a chase after wind. There is no profit under the sun. ¹² What about one who succeeds a king? He can do only what has already been done.^[g]

Study of Wisdom and Folly. I went on to the consideration of wisdom, madness and folly. ¹³ And I saw that wisdom has as much profit over folly as light has over darkness.

Yet I knew that the same lot befalls both.^{[h](F) 15} So I said in my heart, if the fool’s lot is to befall me also, why should I be wise? Where is the profit? And in my heart I decided that this too is vanity. ^16 (G)The wise person will have no more abiding remembrance than the fool; for in days to come both will have been forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies^[i] like the fool! ¹⁷ Therefore I detested life, since for me the work that is done under the sun is bad; for all is vanity and a chase after wind.

Study of the Fruits of Toil

To Others the Profits. ¹⁸ And I detested all the fruits of my toil under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who is to come after me. ¹⁹ And who knows whether that one will be wise or a fool? Yet that one will take control of all the fruits of my toil and wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So my heart turned to despair over all the fruits of my toil under the sun. ²¹ For here is one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill, and that one’s legacy must be left to another who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ^22 (H)For what profit comes to mortals from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which they toil under the sun? ²³ Every day sorrow and grief are their occupation; even at night their hearts are not at rest. This also is vanity.

^24 [j](I)There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil. Even this, I saw, is from the hand of God. ²⁵ For who can eat or drink apart from God? ^26 [k](J)For to the one who pleases God, he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the one who displeases, God gives the task of gathering possessions for the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

Chapter 3

No One Can Determine the Right Time to Act

^9 (K)What profit have workers from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about. ^11 (L)God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless^[m] into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. ^12 (M)I recognized that there is nothing better than to rejoice and to do well during life. ¹³ Moreover, that all can eat and drink and enjoy the good of all their toil—this is a gift of God. ¹⁴ I recognized that whatever God does will endure forever; there is no adding to it, or taking from it. Thus has God done that he may be revered. ^15 [n](N)What now is has already been; what is to be, already is: God retrieves what has gone by.

The Problem of Retribution. ^16 (O)And still under the sun in the judgment place I saw wickedness, and wickedness also in the seat of justice. ^17 (P)I said in my heart, both the just and the wicked God will judge, since a time is set for every affair and for every work.^{[o] 18} I said in my heart: As for human beings, it is God’s way of testing them and of showing that they are in themselves like beasts. ¹⁹ For the lot of mortals and the lot of beasts is the same lot: The one dies as well as the other. Both have the same life breath. Human beings have no advantage over beasts, but all is vanity. ^20 (Q)Both go to the same place; both were made from the dust, and to the dust they both return. ²¹ Who knows^[p] if the life breath of mortals goes upward and the life breath of beasts goes earthward? ^22 (R)And I saw that there is nothing better for mortals than to rejoice in their work; for this is their lot. Who will let them see what is to come after them?^(S)

Chapter 4

Vanity of Toil. ¹ Again I saw all the oppressions that take place under the sun: the tears of the victims with none to comfort^[q] them! From the hand of their oppressors comes violence, and there is none to comfort them!^{(T) 2} And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive.^{(U) 3} And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun. ⁴ Then I saw that all toil and skillful work is the rivalry of one person with another. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

Companions and Successors. ⁷ Again I saw this vanity under the sun: ⁸ those all alone with no companion, with neither child nor sibling—with no end to all their toil, and no satisfaction from riches. For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good things? This also is vanity and a bad business. ⁹ Two are better than one: They get a good wage for their toil. ¹⁰ If the one falls, the other will help the fallen one. But woe to the solitary person! If that one should fall, there is no other to help. ¹¹ So also, if two sleep together, they keep each other warm. How can one alone keep warm? ¹² Where one alone may be overcome, two together can resist. A three-ply cord^[s] is not easily broken.

^13 [t]Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows caution; ¹⁴ for from a prison house he came forth to reign; despite his kingship he was born poor. ¹⁵ I saw all the living, those who move about under the sun, with the second youth who will succeed him.^{[u] 16} There is no end to all this people, to all who were before them; yet the later generations will not have joy in him. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

Vanity of Many Words. ^17 (V)Guard your step when you go to the house of God.^[v] Draw near for obedience, rather than for the fools’ offering of sacrifice; for they know not how to keep from doing evil.

Chapter 5

^1 [w]Be not hasty in your utterance and let not your heart be quick to utter a promise in God’s presence. God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.^(W)

^3 (X)When you make a vow to God, delay not its fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed. ⁴ It is better not to make a vow than make it and not fulfill it. ⁵ Let not your utterances make you guilty, and say not before his representative, “It was a mistake.” Why should God be angered by your words and destroy the works of your hands? ^6 (Y)Despite many dreams, futilities, and a multitude of words, fear God!

Gain and Loss of Goods. ^7 (Z)If you see oppression of the poor, and violation of rights and justice in the realm, do not be astonished by the fact, for the high official has another higher than he watching him and above these are others higher still—. ⁸ But profitable for a land in such circumstances is a king concerned about cultivation.^[x]

^9 (AA)The covetous are never satisfied with money, nor lovers of wealth with their gain; so this too is vanity. ¹⁰ Where there are great riches, there are also many to devour them. Of what use are they to the owner except as a feast for the eyes alone? ¹¹ Sleep is sweet to the laborer, whether there is little or much to eat; but the abundance of the rich allows them no sleep.

¹² This is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches hoarded by their owners to their own hurt. ¹³ Should the riches be lost through some misfortune, they may have offspring when they have no means. ^14 (AB)As they came forth from their mother’s womb, so again shall they return, naked as they came, having nothing from their toil to bring with them. ¹⁵ This too is a grievous evil, that they go just as they came. What then does it profit them to toil for the wind? ¹⁶ All their days they eat in gloom with great vexation, sickness and resentment.

^17 (AC)Here is what I see as good: It is appropriate to eat and drink and prosper from all the toil one toils at under the sun during the limited days of life God gives us; for this is our lot. ¹⁸ Those to whom God gives riches and property, and grants power to partake of them, so that they receive their lot and find joy in the fruits of their toil: This is a gift from God. ¹⁹ For they will hardly dwell on the shortness of life, because God lets them busy themselves with the joy of their heart.^[y]

Chapter 6

Limited Worth of Enjoyment. ¹ There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon humankind: ^2 (AD)There is one to whom God gives riches and property and honor, and who lacks nothing the heart could desire; yet God does not grant the power to partake of them, but a stranger devours them. This is vanity and a dire plague. ³ Should one have a hundred children and live many years, no matter to what great age, still if one has not the full benefit of those goods, I proclaim that the child born dead, even if left unburied, is more fortunate.^{[z] 4 (AE)}Though it came in vain and goes into darkness and its name is enveloped in darkness, ⁵ though it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet the dead child has more peace. ⁶ Should such a one live twice a thousand years and not enjoy those goods, do not both go to the same place?^[aa]

⁷ All human toil is for the mouth,^[ab] yet the appetite is never satisfied. ⁸ What profit have the wise compared to fools, or what profit have the lowly in knowing how to conduct themselves in life? ⁹ “What the eyes see is better than what the desires wander after.”^[ac] This also is vanity and a chase after wind.