ECCLESIASTES
Sayings of the
Speaker, David's son, king in Jerusalem.
Utterly vain,
utterly vain, everything is vain! Man labours at his toil
under the sun; what does he gain? The generations come and
go, but there the earth is, there it shall remain. The rising
sun goes down, it hurries round only to rise again. From
south to north the wind blows round, the wind turns as it blows,
turning and then returning on its track. The streams all flow
into the sea, but the sea they never fill, though the streams are
flowing still. All things are aweary, weary beyond words: the
eye is never satisfied, the ear has never enough. What has
been is what shall be, what has gone on is what shall go on, and
there is nothing new under the sun. Men may say of something, "Ah,
this is new!"–but it existed long ago before our time. The
men of old are now forgotten, and men to come shall be forgotten by
the folk who follow them.
I the
Speaker was king of Israel in Jerusalem. I set myself to study and
survey thoughtfully all that goes on under heaven–a sorry
task this toil set to the sons of men by God! I have seen all
that goes on in this world; it is a vain, futile affair. You cannot
straighten what is twisted, nor can you count up the defects in
life.
Said I to myself,
"Now here have I gained far more wisdom than any before me in
Jerusalem, my mind has such experience of wisdom and knowledge; I
have applied myself to wisdom and knowledge as well as to mad
folly, and I find it futile. The more you know, the more you
suffer: the more you understand, the more you
ache."
Said I to myself,
"Come, try pleasure and enjoy yourself." But this too was in
vain. Mirth is madness, I reflected, and what is
the good of pleasure? I
searched my mind how to pamper my body with wine (keeping control
of myself wisely all the time), how to come by folly, till I could
see how best the sons of men might fare under heaven during the few
days of their life. I went in for great works,
built mansions, planted vineyards, laid out gardens and parks
in which I planted all kinds of
fruit-trees, and made pools to water the trees in my
plantations; I bought slaves, both men and women, and
had slaves born within my household; I had
large herds and flocks, larger than any before me in
Jerusalem; I amassed silver and gold, right royal
treasures; I secured singers, both men and
women, and many a mistress, man's delight. Richer and richer I
grew, more than any before me in Jerusalem, nor did my wisdom leave
me. Nothing I coveted did I I deny myself; I
refused my heart no joy–for my heart did feel joy in all this
toil; so much I did get from all my efforts. But when I turned to
look at all I had achieved and at my toil and trouble, then it was
all vain and futile. Nothing in this world is worth while. For what
can he do who succeeds the king? Nothing but what the king has done
already.
Then I turned to
look into wisdom and mad folly. Wisdom is better than folly, I saw,
as light is better than darkness; for the wise man has eyes in his
head, while the fool walks in the dark. But I also found that one
fate falls to both. So I said to myself, "If the fool's fate is to
be my fate, what is the use of all my wisdom? This too is
vain," said I to myself. "The wise man is no more remembered
than the fool, for in days to come both alike will have been long
forgotten. Alas, the wise man dies like the fool!" So I hated life;
for all that goes on under the sun seemed evil to me, all of it
vain and futile. I hated all that I had toiled at under the sun,
knowing I must leave it to the man who follows me. And who knows
whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have it all in
his own hands, all I have won by my toil and trouble and skill
under the sun.
This too is vain. So
I turned to despair of all my toil and trouble under the sun; for a
man who has toiled skilfully and thoughtfully and ably has to leave
all his gains to one who has never worked for them. This too is
vain, it is a great evil. For what good
does a man get himself from all the toil and
strain of his labour in this world?
All through life his task is a sheer pain and
vexation, day after day; the very night brings no rest to his mind.
This too is vain. There is nothing better for a man than to eat and
drink and enjoy himself as he does his work. And this, I find, is
what God grants; for who can eat, who can enjoy himself, apart from
God? [[To a man whom God approves he grants wisdom, knowledge, and
happiness, but he sets a sinner ... the task of gathering and
amassing wealth, only to leave it to -the man whom God approves:
(which is indeed vain and futile).]]
Everything has its
appointed; hour, there is a time for all things under
heaven:
a time
for birth, a time for death,
a time to plant and
a time to uproot,
a time to kill, a
time to heal,
a time to break down
and a time to build,
a time to cry, a
time to laugh,
a time to mourn, a
time to dance,
a time to scatter
and a time to gather,
a time to embrace, a
time to refrain,
a tune to seek, a
time to lose,
a time to keep, a
time to throw away,
a time to tear, a
time to sew,
a time for silence
and a time for speech,
a time for love, a
time for hate,
a time for war, a
time for peace.
What does a busy man
gain from his toil? I have watched the interests that God
sets the sons of men to labour at; he assigned each to
its proper time, but for the mind of man he has appointed mystery,
that man may never fathom God's own purpose from beginning to end.
For men, I find, there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy
themselves as long as they are alive; it is indeed God's very gift
to man, that he should eat and drink and be happy as he toils.
Also, I find, whatever God may do shall stand unchanged; nothing
can be added to it, nothing can be taken from it. So
God orders things, that men may stand in awe of him. Whatever
is, it has already been; whatever is to be, already is; and God is
ever bringing back what disappears.
Once more I looked
into the world, and there I saw wrong within the courts of justice,
iniquity within the courts of religion. [[Yes, but (I said to
myself) God will deal one day with the just and the unjust; 'tis he
who appoints a time for everything, for all that men devise and
practise.]] This, I reflected, is God showing what men are, to let
them see they are no better than the beasts. For man's fate
is a beast's fate, one fate befalls them both; as the one dies so
the other dies, the same breath is in them all; man is no better
than a beast, for both are vanity, both are bound for the same end;
both sprang from the dust, and to the dust they both return. Who
can tell if the spirit of man goes upward, while the spirit of a
beast goes down into the earth? So I saw the best thing for man was
to be happy in his work; that is what he gets out of life, for who
can show him what is to happen afterwards?
I looked again and
saw all the oppression that goes on in the world; there were the
oppressed in tears, with no one to redress their
wrongs–tyrants in power and the oppressed in tears, with no
one to redress their wrongs! So I judged the dead already in their
graves to be more happy than the living who were still alive; yes,
and happier than them both the man unborn, who has never known the
misery that goes on in the world.
Also I saw that
human toil and skill mean jealousy between man and man.
(This too is vain and futile!) He is a fool who folds
his hands and lets life go to ruin. Still, one
handful of content is better than two hands full of toil and futile
effort. I saw another futile thing under
the sun–a lone man, kinless,
without son or brother, and yet toiling on to make
money; he cannot satisfy himself with what he gains, and he never
asks for whose sake he is toiling and stinting himself of
pleasure. This too is vain, a sorry business. Two
are better than one; they come well off in all they undertake, for
if one falls the other man can raise his fellow. But woe betide a
lonely man who falls, with none to help him
up! Again, if two men lie
together they keep warm; but how can any man keep
warm alone? Also, two men can stand
up to a robber, when a single man would be
overpowered. And a threefold cord is not easily
broken.
A young
man, lowly born and wise, is better than an old and silly
king who will no longer take advice; in a rebellion the
young man may rise to the throne,
although he was born poor within the realm. I have seen
all the living on earth side with such a youth, who was destined to
reign instead of the old king; no end of people hailed him as their
leader. Yet later on men lost all interest in him! This too is vain
and futile.
Never enter God's
house carelessly; draw near him to listen, and then your service is
better than what fools offer–for all a fool knows is how to
do wrong. Never be rash with your lips, never let your heart hurry
you into words before God. God is in heaven, and you are on earth;
so let your words be few. For as many worries mean that a man will
dream, so many words mean that a fool is talking. When you
vow a vow to God, pay it without delay (for the vows of fools
displease him). Pay your vow; better not vow at all than vow
and fail to pay. Never allow your lips to lay you open to
punishment; never say to God, "I vowed that by mistake," lest God
be angry at your excuse and undo you. Stand in awe of God [[for
many dreams and words mean many a vain folly]].
When you see the
poor being oppressed or right and justice tampered with in the
State, be not surprised; it is one official preying on another. But
over both there is a supreme authority; after all, a country
prospers with a king who has control.
A lover of money
will never be satisfied with his money, and a lover of wealth will
never make anything of it (this too is vain!). The more a man
gains, the more there are to spend it, while the owner can only
look on. Sweet is the worker's sleep, whether he has much to eat or
little; but the satiety of the rich keeps them from
sleeping. A sore evil have I seen in the world, wealth
hoarded to the owner's loss: in some unlucky venture it is lost,
and the man has nothing to leave to his son. Naked he
came from his mother's womb, and naked he must return; for all his
toil, he has nothing to take with him. A sore evil this, that as he
came so he must go. What does he gain by all his
futile toil, spending his days in gloominess, privations, deep
anxieties, distress, and fits of anger?
Here is what I find
right and good for man–to eat and drink and to be happy as he
toils at his task on earth, during the few days God gives him
to live. Such is his lot; yes, it is God's own gift
when a man is made rich and wealthy and able to enjoy it all, to
partake of what may be allotted him and to enjoy himself as he
toils. Then he will never brood over the fewness
of his days, for God is giving him his heart's delight. There is an
evil I have seen under the sun, that presses
heavily on men–God making a man rich, wealthy,
and honoured, till he has everything
his heart desires, and yet he is unable to enjoy it; an outsider
gets the good of it. This is vain, a sore misfortune. A
man may have a hundred children and live many a long year, but if
he gets no joy of his prosperity and dies unburied, he is worse
off, I hold, than an untimely birth that lifeless comes and
darkling goes without a name; the sun it never saw nor knew, but it
is better off. The man may live a thousand years twice
told, but if he never enjoys himself, then are not both alike
bound for the same end?
A man toils on to
satisfy his hunger, but his wants are never met.
A wise man fares no
better than a fool; no more does a poor man who lives uprightly.
Better a joy at hand than wants that roam abroad.
Whatever happens has
been determined long ago, and what man is has been ordained of old;
he cannot argue with One mightier than himself, and lavish talk
about it only means more folly. What is the use of talking? Who can
tell what is good for man in life, during the few days of his empty
life that passes like a shadow? For who can tell a man what is to
happen in this world when he is gone? A good name in life is better
than none, but the day of death is better than the day of
birth.
Better go to the
house of mourning than to the house of feasting; for death is the
end of all men, and the living should keep that in mind.
Grief is better than gaiety, for sadness does the soul good.
The heart of wise men turns to the house of mourning, the heart of
fools turns to the house of mirth.
Better attend to
censure from the wise than listen to a song from fools; for
like nettles crackling under kettles is the cackle of a
fool.
This too is vain:
for a judge to make a fool of himself by oppression, and for life
to be ruined by the taking of bribes.
The end of a
business is better than its beginning, and patience is better than
pride.
Never be hasty in
your anger; it is only fools who cherish wrath.
Never ask why the
past was better than the present: that is a foolish
question.
Wisdom is as good as
an inheritance, a real profit for mankind; for wisdom like wealth
is a defence, but knowledge does more good than money, it
safeguards a man's life.
Ponder the doings of
God: who can straighten what he twists?
In prosperous days
enjoy yourself, but in evil days ponder this, that the one is the
doing of God as well as the other–all to keep man from
knowing what is to happen.
All manner of things
have I seen in my fleeting life, the good man perishing by his very
goodness and the evil man flourishing upon his
evil. Be not over-good, be not over-
wise; why expose yourself to trouble? And
be not over-evil either, do not play the fool; why die before your
time? The best way is to take the one line, and yet not
avoid the other [[for he who stands in awe of God shall avoid
both extremes]] [[Wisdom is better
protection for the wise than a dozen
wardens for a city]], for there is not a single good
man upon earth whose good deeds
are without some
sin.
One thing
more. Never listen to all that people say; you
may hear your own slave cursing you. And many a time,
you must confess, you yourself have cursed other
people.
All this I have
tested by means of wisdom. I thought to become wise, but wisdom
remained out of reach. Reality is beyond my grasp; deep it lies,
very deep, and no one can lay hands upon the heart of things.
I cast about in my mind to know and survey and discover wisdom and
the reason of things, finding that wickedness is folly and folly
madness; and I discovered something, something more bitter even
than death– the woman who entangles men, whose heart is a
net, whose clasp is a chain [[A man by God's good favour shall
escape her, but she will snare a sinner]]. Vainly have I sought
over and again the truth of things, putting together this and that;
but here is what I have found, says the Speaker: one true man in a
thousand, but never a true woman! Here is all I have been able to
discover: God made the race of men upright, but many a cunning wile
have they contrived.
Who is like a wise
man? Who can explain things? Man's wisdom lights his face up,
it transfigures even a rough countenance.
Obey the king, for
you swore him loyalty before God. Rebel not rashly against
him, never thwart him, for he does as he pleases; the king's word
is su-preme, and none dare ask him what he means. No one knows what
a king may do, and none can tell when he will do it. He who obeys
the royal command will never come to harm. Still, the wise heart
knows there is a tune of judgment coming, even though to-day men
are being crushed under the king in misery; for all there is an
hour of judgment. No man can hold the winds in check or
control the day of death; in war there is no furlough, and wrong is
no shield for wrongdoers. All this I saw, as thoughtfully I
pondered what goes on within this world whenever men have power
over their fellows, power to injure them.
Then I saw bad men
being borne to burial, carried to their rest, while the pious had
to leave the sanctuary and were forgotten in the city (which also
is vanity!). [[Because sentence on a crime is not
executed at once, the mind of man is prone to evil practices; but
although a sinner may sin repeatedly and thrive, I know it is the
reverent who are safe, as they revere God, while the bad man fares
ill–he cannot thrive, for lives that lack all reverence for
God pass like a
shadow.]] Here again is a vanity that goes on in
the world: good men fare as though they were wicked, and wicked men
fare as though they were good. This, I repeat, is
vanity. So I praise pleasure: the best thing for
man is to eat and drink and enjoy himself, and to keep this up as
he toils right through the life God gives him in this
world.
When I gave my mind
to the study of wisdom, to study all the busy life of the world, I
found that man is unable to grasp the truth of all that God does in
this world; he may labour in his efforts to attain it, in a
sleepless quest for it by day and night, but he will never find it
out; a wise man may think he is coming on the secret, but .even he
will never find it out. For this I realize, this; I see
clearly, that the just and wise and all their doings are within the
power of God. Will he love them? Will he hate them? None can tell;
anything may happen to them. And for all men alike there is one
fate, for just and unjust, good and bad, pure and impure, for him
who sacrifices and for him who never sacrifices; as with the good
man, so with the sinner; the profane man fares like the man whose
oath is sacred. There is no evil like this in the world, that all
men have one fate; it makes men seethe with evil aims and mad
desires during their life,
and then they join the dead–not one is left. Any one still
alive has something to live for (even a live dog is better than a
dead lion); the living know this at least, that they must die. But
the dead know nothing, they have nothing for their labour, their
very memory is forgotten, their love has vanished with their hate
and jealousy, and they have no share now in anything that goes on
in the world.
Come, eat your food
with joy and drink your wine with a glad heart, for this has God's
approval. Wear white robes always, and spare not oil for your head;
enjoy life with the woman whom you love, through all the fleeting
life which God has given you in this world, for this is what you
are meant to get out of your life of toil under the sun. Throw
yourself into any pursuit that may appeal to you, for there is no
pursuit, no plan, no knowledge or intelligence within the grave
where you are going.
I looked at life
again: in this world the race is not won by the swift, nor battles
by the brave, nor bread by the wise, nor wealth by the clever, nor
honour by the learned; death and misfortune happen to them all. For
no man knows his hour; like fish caught in the deadly net, like
birds trapped in a snare, so men are snared by an evil hour that
drops upon them suddenly.
Here is another case
of wisdom which I have seen on earth, and I was struck by
it. A little town there was, with few men in it; and a
great king attacked it, he invested it, and built great siegeworks
round it. However, a poor wise
man was found within the town, who saved it by his
skill. And not a soul remembered that
poor man! Wisdom is better than strength, I reflected; still,
a poor man's wisdom wins no honour or deference for him. Wise words
heard in quiet far excel shouts from a ringleader of
revelers.
Wisdom is better
than weapons of war: often a single error spoils good
strategy.
A poisonous fly
makes perfume putrid: a grain of folly mars wisdom and
honour.
A wise man's sense
will keep him right: a fool's mind leads him wrong. Even on a
walk the fool shows lack of sense,for he calls everyone a fool. If
a ruler's wrath flares up against you, do not resign
your post; defer to him, and you will pacify his rage.
Here is an evil I
have seen on earth, a ruler blundering without meaning it: fools
often get high posts from him, while the noble have a lowly seat;
so have I seen slaves on horseback, and princes
plodding afoot like slaves.
He who digs a pit
may fall into it, he who breaks a wall
down may be bitten by a
serpent.
He who quarries
stones may be hurt by them, he who cuts logs may get a
wound.
If the axe is blunt
and its edge un whetted, more strength must be put into the blow;
successful skill comes from shrewd sense.
If a serpent bites
before it is charmed, then the charmer's
skill is useless.
The
words of wise men win them favour, but a fool's
lips are his rum; his words are folly from the start, and they end
in mad mischief; a fool prates on and on; even the stupid are weary
of his fussiness.
Man knows not what
is to be: who can tell him what happens when he is
gone?
Woe betide you, 0
land, when your king is a mere boy, and your princes revel in the
morning! Well for you when your king is nobly born, and princes revel at right
hours, stalwart men, not sots!
Sloth make the
rafters sink: when hands are slack,
the
roof will
leak.
Men feast for
merrymaking, and drink for revelry– and money does it
all!
Curse not the king,
not even on your couch, curse not the rich, even in your
bedchamber; for a bird of the air may carry
the sound, and
wings may betray the secret.
Trust your goods far
and wide at sea, _ " till you get good returns after a
while.
Take shares in
several ventures; you never know what will go
wrong in this world.
When clouds are full of rain, they drench the earth; as the stick
falls, to south or north, where the stick falls it
lies.
He whose eye is on
the wind will never sow; he who studies clouds
will never reap. As you know not how the wind blows, nor how a babe
in the womb grows, so you cannot know how
God works, God who is in
everything.
Sow your seed in the
morning of life, and stay not your hand till evening; you never
know if this or that shall prosper, or whether both shall have
success.
Sweet is the light
of life, and pleasant is it for the eyes to see
the sun. If a man live many years, let him have
joy throughout them all; let him remember that the dark days
will be many. All that comes after death is emptiness.
So rejoice in your youth, young man, be blithe in the flower of
your age; follow your heart's desire and all that attracts you
[[but be sure that for all this God will bring you to account]];
banish all worries from your mind, and keep your
body free from pain (for youth and manhood will not last)
[[but remember your Creator in the flower of your age]], ere evil
days come on, and years approach when you shall say, "I have no joy
in them"; ere the sun grows dark, and the light goes from moon and
stars, and the clouds gather after rain; when the guards tremble in
the house of Life, when its upholders bow, when the maids that
grind are few and fail, and ladies at the lattice lose their
lustre, when the doors to the street are shut, and the sound of the
mill runs low, when the twitter of birds is faint, and dull the
daughters of song, when old age fears a height, and even a walk has
its terrors, when his hair is almond white, and he drags his limbs
along, and the spirit flags and fades.
So man goes to his
long, long home, and mourners pass along the street, on the day
when the silver cord is snapped, and the golden lamp drops broken,
when the pitcher breaks at the fountain, the wheel breaks at the cistern, when
the dust returns to earth once more, and the spirit to God
who gave it.
Utterly
vain–it is the Speaker's verdict–everything is
vain!
The more wise the
Speaker became, the more he taught the people knowledge; many a
maxim he pondered and examined and arranged. The
Speaker's aim was to find pleasing words, even as he put down
plainly what was true. A wise man's words are like
goads, and his collected sayings are like nails driven home; they
put the mind of one man into many a life. My son, avoid
anything beyond the scriptures of wisdom; there is no end to the
buying of books, and to study books closely is a
weariness to the flesh.
To sum it all up, in
conclusion. Stand in awe of God, obey his orders:
that is everything for every man. For in judging
all life's secrets God will have every single thing before him, to
decide whether it is good or evil.
James Moffatt's translation 1913
