10 10:1 Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. ²A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. ³Even when the fool walks on the road, he lacks sense, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. ⁴If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness[1] will lay great offenses to rest. ⁵There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were an error proceeding from the ruler: ⁶folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. ⁷I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves.

⁸He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall. ⁹He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them. ¹⁰If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed.^[2]¹¹If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage to the charmer.

¹²The words of a wise man’s mouth win him favor,^[3]but the lips of a fool consume him. ¹³The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is evil madness. ¹⁴A fool multiplies words, though no man knows what is to be, and who can tell him what will be after him? ¹⁵The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.

¹⁶Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning! ¹⁷Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility, and your princes feast at the proper time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! ¹⁸Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. ¹⁹Bread is made for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything. ²⁰Even in your thought, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

[1] Hebrew healing [2] Or wisdom is an advantage for success [3] Or are gracious

11 Cast Your Bread upon the Waters

11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. ²Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. ³If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves on the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. ⁴He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. ⁵As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb[4] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. ⁶In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. ⁷Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

⁸So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

⁹Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

¹⁰Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain[5] from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

[4] Some Hebrew manuscripts, Targum; most Hebrew manuscripts As you do not know the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb [5] Or evil

12 Remember Your Creator in Your Youth

12:1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; ²before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, ³in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, ⁴and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—⁵they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,[6] and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—⁶before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, ⁷and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. ⁸Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

⁹Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. ¹⁰The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

¹¹The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. ¹²My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

¹³The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.[7] ¹⁴For God will bring every deed into judgment, with[8] every secret thing, whether good or evil.

[6] Or is a burden [7] Or the duty of all mankind [8] Or into the judgment on