Divide your merchandise ¹  among seven or even eight ²  investments, ³  for you do not know ⁴  what calamity ⁵  may happen on earth.

For the wise man, like ¹  the fool, will not be remembered for very long, ²  because ³  in the days to come, both will already have been forgotten. ⁴  Alas, ⁵  the wise man dies – just like ⁶  the fool!

I also amassed silver and gold for myself, as well as valuable treasures ¹  taken from kingdoms and provinces. ²  I acquired male singers and female singers for myself, and what gives a man sensual delight ³  – a harem of beautiful concubines! ⁴ 

All of man’s labor is for nothing more than ¹  to fill his stomach ²  – yet his appetite ³  is never satisfied!

It is better for you not to vow than to vow and not pay it. ¹ 

I have concluded ¹  that there is nothing better for people ²  than ³  to be happy and to enjoy themselves ⁴  as long as they live,

For he does not think ¹  much about the fleeting ²  days of his life because God keeps him preoccupied ³  with the joy he derives from his activity. ⁴ 

So I began to despair ¹  about all the fruit of ²  my labor ³  for which I worked so hard ⁴  on earth. ⁵ 

For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward – and even the memory of them disappears. ¹ 

This is another misfortune: ¹  Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?

Do not rush out of the king’s presence in haste – do not delay when the matter is unpleasant, ¹  for he can do whatever he pleases.

I designed ¹  royal gardens ²  and parks ³  for myself, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

For ¹  there is not one truly ²  righteous person on the earth who continually does good and never sins.

Though the stillborn child ¹  came into the world ²  for no reason ³  and departed into darkness, though its name is shrouded in darkness, ⁴ 

It is better for a person to receive ¹  a rebuke from those who are wise ²  than to listen to the song ³  of fools.

For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns ¹  under a cooking pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This kind of folly ²  also is useless. ³ 

Banish ¹  emotional stress ²  from your mind. ³  and put away pain ⁴  from your body; ⁵  for youth ⁶  and the prime of life ⁷  are fleeting. ⁸ 

So I loathed ¹  life ²  because what happens ³  on earth ⁴  seems awful to me; for all the benefits of wisdom ⁵  are futile – like chasing the wind.

For if they fall, one will help his companion up, but pity ¹  the person who falls down and has no one to help him up.

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; however, he must hand over ¹  the fruit of his labor ²  as an inheritance ³  to someone else who did not work for it. This also is futile, and an awful injustice! ⁴