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 

Do not let yourself be quickly provoked, ¹  for anger resides in the lap ²  of fools.

For wisdom provides ¹  protection, ²  just as ³  money provides protection. ⁴  But the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life ⁵  of its owner.

Consider the work of God: For who can make straight what he has bent?

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

For you know in your own heart ¹  that you also have cursed others many times.

Send ¹  your grain ²  overseas, ³  for after many days you will get a return. ⁴ 

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 

For the fate of humans ¹  and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.

Again, ¹  I observed this on the earth: ²  the race is not always ³  won by the swiftest, the battle is not always won by the strongest; prosperity ⁴  does not always belong to those who are the wisest, wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning, nor does success ⁵  always come to those with the most knowledge – for time and chance may overcome ⁶  them all.

Next, I decided to consider ¹  wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. ²  For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king ³  has already done?

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!

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 

For all day long ¹  his work produces pain and frustration, ²  and even at night his mind cannot relax! ³  This also is futile!

There is nothing better for ¹  people ²  than ³  to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment ⁴  in their ⁵  work. I also perceived that this ability to find enjoyment ⁶  comes from God. ⁷ 

I thought to myself, “God will judge both the righteous and the wicked; for there is an appropriate time for every activity, and there is a time of judgment ¹  for every deed.

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.

When you make a vow ¹  to God, do not delay in paying it. ²  For God ³  takes no pleasure in fools: Pay what you vow!

When someone’s ¹  prosperity ²  increases, those who consume it also increase; so what does its owner ³  gain, except that he gets to see it with his eyes? ⁴ 

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these days?” ¹  for it is not wise to ask that. ²