I designed royal gardens and parks for myself, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.

Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth! Therefore, let your words be few.

For you know in your own heart that you also have cursed others many times.

If the snake should bite before it is charmed, the snake charmer is in trouble.

The wise man can see where he is going, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that the same fate happens to them both.

I considered all the living who walk on earth, as well as the successor who would arise in his place.

The words of the wise are heard in quiet, more than the shouting of a ruler is heard among fools.

Surely, no one knows his appointed time! Like fish that are caught in a deadly net, and like birds that are caught in a snare – just like them, all people are ensnared at an unfortunate time that falls upon them suddenly.

For he came out of prison to become king, even though he had been born poor in what would become his kingdom.

What they loved, as well as what they hated and envied, perished long ago, and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth.

However, a poor but wise man lived in the city, and he could have delivered the city by his wisdom, but no one listened to that poor man.

Do not rush out of the king’s presence in haste – do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, for he can do whatever he pleases.

There was once a small city with a few men in it, and a mighty king attacked it, besieging it and building strong siege works against it.

and also that everyone should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all his toil, for these things are a gift from God.

This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth: the same fate awaits everyone. In addition to this, the hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die.

Whatever exists now has already been, and whatever will be has already been; for God will seek to do again what has occurred in the past.

and they are afraid of heights and the dangers in the street; the almond blossoms grow white, and the grasshopper drags itself along, and the caper berry shrivels up – because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about in the streets –

While applying my mind to everything that happens in this world, I have seen all this: Sometimes one person dominates other people to their harm.

Not only that, but I have seen the wicked approaching and entering the temple, and as they left the holy temple, they boasted in the city that they had done so. This also is an enigma.