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

God has made everything fit beautifully ¹  in its appropriate time, but ²  he has also placed ignorance ³  in the human heart ⁴  so that ⁵  people ⁶  cannot discover what God has ordained, ⁷  from the beginning to the end ⁸  of their lives. ⁹ 

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 ¹  that you also have cursed others many times.

If the snake should bite before it is charmed, ¹  the snake charmer ²  is in trouble. ³ 

The wise man can see where he is going, ¹  but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that the same fate ²  happens to them both. ³ 

I considered all the living who walk on earth, ¹  as well as the successor ²  who would arise ³  in his place.

The words of the wise are heard in quiet, more than the shouting of a ruler is heard ¹  among fools.

Surely, no one ¹  knows his appointed time! ²  Like fish that are caught in a deadly ³  net, and like birds that are caught in a snare – just like them, all people ⁴  are ensnared ⁵  at an unfortunate ⁶  time that falls upon them suddenly.

For he came out of prison ¹  to become king, even though he had been born poor in what would become his ²  kingdom.

What they loved, ¹  as well as what they hated ²  and envied, ³  perished long ago, and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. ⁴ 

However, a poor but wise man lived in the city, ¹  and he could have delivered ²  the city by his wisdom, but no one listened ³  to that poor man.

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.

There was once ¹  a small city with a few men in it, and a mighty king attacked it, besieging ²  it and building strong ³  siege works against it.

and also that everyone should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all his toil, for these things ¹  are a gift from God.

This is the unfortunate fact ¹  about everything that happens on earth: ²  the same fate awaits ³  everyone. In addition to this, the hearts of all people ⁴  are full of evil, and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die. ⁵ 

Whatever exists now has already been, and whatever will be has already been; for God will seek to do again ¹  what has occurred ²  in the past. ³ 

and they are afraid of heights and the dangers ¹  in the street; the almond blossoms ²  grow white, ³  and the grasshopper ⁴  drags itself along, ⁵  and the caper berry ⁶  shrivels up ⁷  – because man goes to his eternal home, ⁸  and the mourners go about in the streets –

While applying ¹  my mind ²  to everything ³  that happens in this world, ⁴  I have seen all this: Sometimes one person ⁵  dominates ⁶  other people ⁷  to their harm. ⁸ 

Not only that, ¹  but I have seen the wicked approaching ²  and entering the temple, ³  and as they left the holy temple, ⁴  they boasted ⁵  in the city that they had done so. This also is an enigma. ⁶