“ Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening.
9:11. I turned me to another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favour to the skilful: but time and chance in all.
9:12. Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them. ”

“ What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun? ”

“ And I understood that man can find no reason of all those works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to seek, so much the less shall he find: yea, though the wise man shall say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find it. ”

“ I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit.
1:15. The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite.
1:16. I have spoken in my heart, saying: Behold I am become great, and have gone beyond all in wisdom, that were before me in Jerusalem: and my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned. ”

“ He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:
6:6. Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?
6:7. All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled.
6:8. What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?
6:9. Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit. ”

“ Ecclesiastes Chapter 9
Man knows not certainty that he is in God's grace. After death no more work or merit.
9:1. All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred:
9:2. But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. ”

“ For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this also is vanity, and a great evil.
2:22. For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun?
2:23. All his days are full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity?
2:24. Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? ”

“ Considering I found also another vanity under the sun:
4:8. There is but one, and he hath not a second, no child, no brother, and yet he ceaseth not to labour, neither are his eyes satisfied with riches, neither doth he reflect, saying: For whom do I labour, and defraud my soul of good things? in this also is vanity, and a grievous vexation.
4:9. It is better therefore that two should be together, than one: for they have the advantage of their society:
4:10. If one fall he shall be supported by the other: woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to lift him up. ”

“ Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 10
Observations on wisdom and folly, ambition and detraction.
10:1. Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived folly.
10:2. The heart of a wise man is in his right hand, and the heart of a fool is in his left hand.
10:3. Yea, and the fool when he walketh in the way, whereas he himself is a fool, esteemeth all men fools. ”

“ Wisdom with riches is more profitable, and bringeth more advantage to them that see the sun.
7:13. For as wisdom is a defence, so money is a defence: but learning and wisdom excel in this, that they give life to him that possesseth them.
7:14. Consider the works of God, that no man can correct whom he hath despised.
7:15. In the good day enjoy good things, and beware beforehand of the evil day: for God hath made both the one and the other, that man may not find against him any just complaint. ”

“ I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity.
3:17. And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.
3:18. I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.
3:19. Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity.
Man hath nothing more, etc... ”

“ As the good is, so also is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth.
9:3. This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell.
9:4. There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion. ”

“ If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee, leave not thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to cease.
10:5. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were by an error proceeding from the face of the prince:
10:6. A fool set in high dignity, and the rich sitting beneath. ”

“ If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he. ”

“ He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner, shall be caught by her.
7:28. Lo this have I found, said Ecclesiastes, weighing one thing after another, that I might find out the account,
7:29. Which yet my soul seeketh, and I have not found it. One man among a thousand I have found, a woman among them all I have not found.
7:30. Only this I have found, that God made man right, and he hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions. Who is as the wise man? ”

“ For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God.
3:14. I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from those things which God hath made that he may be feared. ”

“ And they shall fear high things, and they shall be afraid in the way, the almond tree shall flourish, the locust shall be made fat, and the caper tree shall be destroyed: because man shall go into the house of his eternity, and the mourners shall go round about in the street. ”

“ The vanity of all temporal things.
1:1. The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king of Jerusalem.
1:2. Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.
1:3. What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh under the sun?
1:4. One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever. ”

“ If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these:
5:8. Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject to him. ”