Ecclesiastes

Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

The fool foldeth his hands together, and eateth his own flesh.

Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive.

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?