For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, for the oppression ¹  of the king ²  is severe upon his victim. ³ 

What does a man acquire from all his labor and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth? ¹ 

Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool; otherwise ¹  you might die before your time.

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

A good reputation ¹  is better ²  than precious ³  perfume; ⁴  likewise, ⁵  the day of one’s ⁶  death ⁷  is better than the day of one’s birth. ⁸ 

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 

Go, eat your food ¹  with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, because God has already approved your works.

Wisdom, like ¹  an inheritance, is a good thing; it benefits those who see the light of day. ² 

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!

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.

For no one knows what is best for a person during his life ¹  – during the few days of his fleeting life – for ²  they pass away ³  like a shadow. Nor can anyone tell him what the future will hold for him on earth. ⁴ 

God gives a man riches, property, and wealth so that he lacks nothing that his heart ¹  desires, ²  yet God does not enable ³  him to enjoy ⁴  the fruit of his labor ⁵  – instead, someone else ⁶  enjoys ⁷  it! ⁸  This is fruitless and a grave misfortune. ⁹ 

But it will not go well with the wicked, nor will they ¹  prolong their ²  days like a shadow, ³  because they ⁴  do not stand in fear ⁵  before God.

If an iron axhead ¹  is blunt and a workman ²  does not sharpen ³  its edge, ⁴  he must exert a great deal of effort; ⁵  so wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

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 

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.

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 

yet a fool keeps on babbling. ¹  No one knows what will happen; who can tell him what will happen in the future? ² 

What I have continually sought, I have not found; I have found only ¹  one upright ²  man among a thousand, but I have not found one upright woman among all of them.

A man who is all alone with no companion, ¹  he has no children nor siblings; ²  yet there is no end to all his toil, and he ³  is never satisfied with riches. He laments, ⁴  “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself ⁵  of pleasure?” ⁶  This also is futile and a burdensome task! ⁷