Ecclesiastes-Koheleth
To Our Forefathers Yisrael
1 The words of the Koheleth, ben Dawid, melech in Yahrushalayim.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Koheleth, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3 What profit has a man of all his labor that he toils under the shemesh?
4 One generation passes away and another generation comes: but the earth abides le-olam-va-ed.
5 The shemesh also rises and the shemesh goes down and hurries to its place where it arose.
6 The wind goes toward the south and turns around to the north; it whirls around continually and the wind returns again according to its circuits.
7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; to the place from where the rivers come, there they return again.
8 All things are wearisome; man is not satisfied with utterance: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the shemesh.
10 Is there anything of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has been already of old time, which was before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
12 I the Koheleth was melech over Yisrael in Yahrushalayim.
13 And I gave my lev to seek and search out by chochmah concerning all things that are done under the shamayim: this evil task has Ahlohim given to the sons of men to be humbled by it.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the shemesh; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of ruach.
15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with my own lev, saying, See, I am come to great estate and have gotten more chochmah than all they that have been before me in Yahrushalayim: yes, my lev has seen much chochmah and da’at.
17 And I set my lev to know chochmah and to know transgression and folly: I perceived that this too is vexation of ruach.
18 For in much chochmah is much grief: and he that increases da’at increases sorrow.
2 I said in my lev, Come now, I will prove you with rejoicing, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of rejoicing, What does it do?
3 I sought in my lev to give myself to wine, while guiding my lev with chochmah; and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was that tov for the sons of men, to do under the shamayim all the yamim of their chayim.
4 I made great works; I built my houses; I planted my vineyards:
5 I made myself gardens and orchards and I planted eytzim in them of all kind of fruits:
6 I made my pools of mayim, to water the grove that brings forth eytzim:
7 I had male avadim and female avadim and had avadim born in my bayit; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Yahrushalayim before me:
8 I gathered also silver and gold and the peculiar treasures of melechim and of the provinces: I got for myself men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men and I appointed for myself an isha and wives.
9 So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Yahrushalayim: also my chochmah remained with me.
10 And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my lev from any simcha; for my lev rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had made and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of ruach and there was no gain under
the shemesh.
12 And I turned myself to behold chochmah and transgression and folly: for what can the man do that comes after the melech? Even that which has been already done.
13 Then I saw that chochmah is better than folly, as far as ohr is better than darkness.
14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool has his halacha in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all.
15 Then said I in my lev, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my lev, that this also is vanity.
16 For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool le-olam-va-ed; seeing that which now is in the yamim to come shall all be forgotten. And how dies the wise man? As the fool.
17 Therefore I hated chayim; because the work that is done under the shemesh is grievous to me: for all is vanity and vexation of ruach.
18 Yes, I hated all my labor that I had taken under the shemesh: because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me.
19 And who knows whether he shall be a wise man, or a fool? Yet shall he have rule over all my labor that I have labored and in which I have showed myself wise under the shemesh. This is also vanity.
20 Therefore I went about to cause my lev to despair of all the labor which I toiled under the shemesh.
21 For there is a man whose labor is in chochmah and in da’at and in equity; yet to a man that has not labored for it shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what has man from all his labor and of the vexation of his lev, in which he has labored under the shemesh?
23 For all his yamim are sorrows and his work grievous; yes, his lev takes not rest even in the lyla. This is also vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink and that he should make his being enjoy tov in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of Ahlohim.
25 For who can eat, or who else can drink except He?
26 For Ahlohim gives to a man what is tov in His sight, chochmah and da’at and simcha: but to the sinner He gives toil, to gather and to heap up, that He may give to him that is tov before Ahlohim. This also is vanity and vexation of ruach.
3 To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the shamayim:
2 A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
8 A time to love and a time to hate; a time of war and a time of shalom.
9 What profit has he that works from his toil?
10 I have seen the toil, which Ahlohim has given to the sons of men to be humbled in it.
11 He has made everything beautiful in His time: also He has set the ages in their lev, so that no man can find out the work that Ahlohim made from the beginning to the end.
12 I know that there is no tov in them, but for a man to gilah and to do tov in his chayim.
13 And also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the tov of all his labor, it is the gift of Ahlohim.
14 I know that, whatever Ahlohim does, it shall be le-olam-va-ed: nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it: and Ahlohim does it, that men should fear before Him.
15 That which has been is now; and that which is to be has already been; and Ahlohim requires that which is past.
16 And moreover I saw under the shemesh instead of mishpat, that evil was there; and instead of tzedakah, that iniquity was there.
17 I said in my lev, Ahlohim shall judge the tzadik and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
18 I said in my lev concerning the situation of the sons of men, that Ahlohim might manifest them and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.
19 For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yes, they have all one breath; so that a man has no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
20 All go to one place; all are of the dust and all return to dust again.
21 Who knows the ruach of man that goes upward and the ruach of the beast that goes downward to the earth?
22 So I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should gilah in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
4 So I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the shemesh: 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.
2 Therefore I praised the dead who are already dead more than the living who are yet alive.
3 Yes, better is he than both of them, who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the shemesh.
4 Again, I considered all toil and skill of work, that brings envy between man and his neighbor. This is also vanity and vexation of ruach.
5 The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh.
6 Better is a handful with quietness, than both the hands full with toil and vexation of ruach.
7 Then I looked again and I saw vanity under the shemesh.
8 There is one who is alone and there is not a second; yes, he has neither child nor brother: yet there is no end of all his labors; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither does he say, For whom do I labor and bereave my being of tov? This is also vanity, yes, it is an evil toil.
9 Two are better than one; because they have a tov reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
12 And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
13 Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish melech, who will no more be admonished.
14 For out of prison he comes to reign; whereas also he that is born in his malchut has been born miserable.
15 I considered all the living who walk under the shemesh, with the young men that shall rise up in their place.
16 There is no end of all the people, even of all that have been before them: they also that come after shall not gilah in him. Surely this also is vanity and vexation of ruach.
5 Keep your foot when you go to the Bayit of Ahlohim and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
2 Be not hasty with your mouth and let not your lev be hasty to utter anything before Ahlohim: for Ahlohim is in the shamayim and you upon the earth: therefore let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes through the greatness of a task; and a fool’s voice is known by his many words.
4 When you vow a vow to Ahlohim, do not delay to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed.
5 Better is it that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
6 Allow not your mouth to cause your flesh to sin; neither say before the Heavenly Malach, that it was an error: why should Ahlohim be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also diverse vanities: rather fear Ahlohim.
8 If you see the oppression of the poor and the violent perverting of mishpat and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regards this; and there are higher ones over them.
9 Moreover the increase of the earth is for all: the melech himself is served by the field.
10 He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased: and what tov is there to the owners, except the beholding of them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little, or much: but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
13 There is a sore evil that I have seen under the shemesh, namely, riches kept for its owners to do evil.
14 But those riches perish by evil use: and he begets a son and there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came forth from his emma’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came into the olam hazeh, so shall he go: and what profit has he that has labored for the wind?
17 All his yamim also he eats in darkness and he has much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
18 Behold that which I have seen: it is tov and pleasant for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the tov of all his labor that he toils under the shemesh all the yamim of his chayim, which Ahlohim gives him: for it is his portion.
19 Every man also to whom Ahlohim has given riches and wealth and has given him power to eat of it and to take his portion and to gilah in his labor; this is the gift of Ahlohim.
20 For he shall not much remember the yamim of his chayim; because Ahlohim answers him in the simcha of his lev.
6 There is an evil that I have seen under the shemesh and it is common among men:
2 A man to whom Ahlohim has given riches, wealth and kavod, so that he wants nothing for his being of all that he desires, yet if Ahlohim gives him not power to eat it, but a ger eats it: this is vanity and it is an evil disease.
3 If a man beget a hundred children and lives many years, so that the yamim of his years are many and if his being is not filled with tov and also if he has no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than him.
4 For he comes in with vanity and departs in darkness and his name shall be covered with darkness.
5 Moreover he has not seen the shemesh, nor known anything: this one has more rest than the other.
6 Yes, though he lives a thousand years twice over, yet he has seen no tov: do not all go to one place?
7 All the labor of man is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not filled.
8 For what has the wise more than the fool? What advantage has the poor, who knows to walk before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of ruach.
10 That which has been is named already and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with Him that is mightier than he.
11 Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what advantage has the man?
12 For who knows what is tov for man in this chayim, all the yamim of his vain chayim that he spends as a shadow? For who can declare to a man what shall be after him under the shemesh?
7 A tov name is better than precious oil; and the yom of death than the yom of one’s birth.
2 It is better to go to the bayit of mourning, than to go to the bayit of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to lev.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the lev is made better.
4 The lev of the wise is in the bayit of mourning; but the lev of fools is in the bayit of gilah.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the shir of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression makes a wise man mad; and a bribe destroys the lev.
8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it: and the patient in ruach is better than the proud in ruach.
9 Be not hasty in your ruach to be angry: for anger rests
in the bosom of fools.
10 Don’t you say, What is the cause that the former yamim were better than these? For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.
11 Chochmah is tov with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the shemesh.
12 For chochmah is a defense and money is a defense: but the excellency of da’at is, that chochmah gives chayim to them that have it.
13 Consider the work of Ahlohim: for who can make straight, what He has made crooked?
14 In the yom of prosperity be full of simcha, but in the yom of adversity consider: Ahlohim also has appointed one as well as the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
15 All things have I seen in the yamim of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his tzedakah and there is a wicked man that prolongs his chayim in his evil.
16 Be not over tzadik; neither make yourself over wise: why should you destroy yourself?
17 Be not wicked overmuch, neither be foolish: why should you die before your time?
18 It is tov that you should take hold of this; yes, also from this withdraw not your hand: for he that fears Ahlohim shall follow all these things.
19 Chochmah strengthens the wise more than ten mighty men who are in the city.
20 For there is not a just man upon earth who does tov and sins not.
21 Also take no heed to all words that are spoken; lest you hear your eved curse you:
22 For many times as also your own lev knows you likewise have cursed others.
23 All this have I proved by chochmah: I said, I am wise; but it was far from me.
24 That which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it out?
25 I applied my lev to know and to search and to seek out chochmah and the reason of things and to know the evil of folly, even of foolishness and transgression:
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose lev is snares and nets and her hands as shackles: the one who pleases Ahlohim shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
27 Behold, this have I found, says the Koheleth, counting one by one, to find out the conclusion:
28 What yet my being seeks, but I found not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found.
29 Behold, this only have I found, that Ahlohim has made man upright; but they have sought out many devices.
8 Who is as the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s chochmah makes his face to shine and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
2 I counsel you to keep the melech’s commandment because of the oath of Ahlohim.
3 Be not hasty to go out of His sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he does whatever pleases him.
4 Where the word of a melech is, there is power: and who may say to him, What are you doing?
5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall know no evil thing: and a wise man’s lev discerns both time and mishpat.
6 Because to every purpose there is time and mishpat, therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
7 For he knows not what shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8 There is no man that has power over the ruach to retain the ruach; neither has he power in the yom of death: and there is no discharge in a war; neither shall evil deliver those that are given to it.
9 All this have I seen and applied my lev to every work that is done under the shemesh: there is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt.
10 And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the kadosh and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the lev of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Though a sinner do evil a hundred times and his yamim be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear Ahlohim, who fear before Him:
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked; neither shall he prolong his yamim, which are as a shadow; because he does not fear before Ahlohim.
14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happens according to the work of the tzadik: I said that this also is vanity.
15 Then I commended gilah because a man has no better thing under the shemesh, than to eat and to drink and to be in simcha: for that shall abide with him from his labor all the yamim of his chayim, which Ahlohim gives him under the shemesh.
16 When I applied my lev to know chochmah and to see the task that is done upon the earth, even though one sees no sleep yom, or lyla.
17 Then I beheld all the work of Ahlohim, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the shemesh: because though a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yes further; though a wise man claim to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.
9 For all this I considered in my lev even to declare all this that the tzadik and the wise and their works, are in the hand of Ahlohim: no man knows whether ahava, or hatred awaits him.
2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the tzadik and to the wicked; to the tov and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that brings sacrifices and to him that does not bring sacrifices: as is the tov, so is the sinner; and he that swears, as he that fears an oath.
3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the shemesh, that there is one event to all: yes, also the lev of the sons of men is full of evil and transgression is in their lev while they live and then they go to the dead.
4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is tikvah: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they anymore a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their ahava and their hatred and their envy, is now perished; neither have they anymore a portion le-olam-va-edin anything that is done under the shemesh.
7 Go your derech, eat your lechem with simcha and drink your wine with a happy lev; for Ahlohim now accepts your works.
8 Let your garments be always white; and let your head lack no oil.
9 Live joyfully with the isha whom you love all the yamim of the chayim of your vanity, which He has given you under the shemesh, all the yamim of your vanity: for that is your portion in this chayim and in your labor which you toil under the shemesh.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor da’at, nor chochmah, in Sheol, where you go.
11 I returned and saw under the shemesh, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither the lechem to the wise, nor the riches to men of binah, nor the chen to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.
12 For man also knows not his time: as fish that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in a snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.
13 This chochmah have I seen also under the shemesh and
it seemed great to me:
14 There was a little city and few men within it; and there came a great melech against it and besieged it and built great bulwarks against it:
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man and he by his chochmah he delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
16 Then said I, Chochmah is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s chochmah is despised and his words are not heard.
17 The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that rules among fools.
18 Chochmah is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroys much tov.
10 Dead flies, das fliegen, cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth a stinking smell: so does a little folly to him that has a reputation for chochmah and kavod.
2 A wise man’s lev is at his right hand; but a fool’s lev at his left.
3 Yes also, when he that is a fool walks by the derech, his chochmah fails him and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
4 If the ruach of the ruler rises up against you, leave not your place; for yielding pacifies great offences.
5 There is an evil that I have seen under the shemesh, as an error that proceeds from the ruler:
6 Folly is set in great dignity and the rich sit in low place.
7 I have seen avadim upon horses and rulers walking as avadim upon the earth.
8 He that digs a pit shall fall into it; and whoever breaks a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
9 Whoever removes stones shall be hurt with them; and he that splits wood shall be endangered by it.
10 If the iron is blunt and one does not sharpen the edge, then he needs more strength: but chochmah is profitable to make right.
11 Surely the serpent will bite without being charmed; then in vain is the charmer.
12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow himself up.
13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is wicked transgression.
14 A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
15 The labor of the foolish wearies every one of them because he knows not how to go to the city.
16 Woe to you, O land, when your melech is a child and your rulers eat in the boker!
17 Blessed are you, O land, when your melech is the son of nobles and your rulers eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness!
18 By much laziness the building decays; and through idleness of the hands the bayit drops through.
19 A feast is made for laughter and wine makes happy: but money answers all things.
20 Curse not the melech, no not in your thought; and curse not the rich in your bedroom: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which has wings shall tell the matter.
11 Cast your lechem upon the mayim: for you shall find it after many yamim.
2 Give a portion to seven and also to eight; for you know not what evil shall be upon the earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the eytz falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the eytz falls, there it shall be.
4 He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.
5 As you know not what is the derech of the ruach, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so you know not the works of Ahlohim who makes all.
6 In the boker sow your zera and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not which shall prosper, either this, or that, or whether they both shall be alike and tov.
7 Truly the ohr is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the shemesh:
8 But if a man lives many years and has gilah in them all; yet let him remember the yamim of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.
9 Gilah, O young man, in your youth; and let your lev encourage you in the yamim of your youth and walk in the derachot of your lev and in the sight of your eyes: but know, that for all these things Ahlohim will bring you into mishpat.
10 Therefore remove sorrow from your lev and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
12 Remember now your Creators in the yamim of your youth, while the evil yamim come not, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the shemesh, or the ohr, or the yarayach, or the cochavim, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In the yom when the keepers of the bayit shall tremble and the strong men shall bow themselves and the grinders cease because they are few and those that look out of the windows will become dim,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high and fears shall be in the derech and the almond eytz shall flourish and the grasshopper shall be a burden and desire shall fail: because man goes to his everlasting home and the mourners go about the streets:
6 Before the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the ruach shall return to Ahlohim who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, says the Koheleth; all is vanity.
9 And moreover because the Koheleth was wise, he still taught the people da’at; yes, he listened and sought out and set in order many mishle.
10 The Koheleth sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of emet.
11 The words of the wise are as goads and as nails arranged by workmen, which are given from One Shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many scrolls there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear Ahlohim and keep His mitzvoth: for this is the entire duty of all mankind.
14 For Ahlohim shall bring every work into mishpat, with every secret thing, whether it is tov, or whether it is evil.