The Preacher
Chapter 1
The words of the Preacher,
The son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher,
Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labor
Which he taketh under the sun?
Generations come and go
But the earth abideth forever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down,
And hasteth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south,
And turneth about unto the north;
It whirleth about continually,
And returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full;
Whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it:
The eye not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear hearing.
The thing that hath been, it shall be;
That which is done is that which shall be done:
There is no new thing under the sun.
Is there anything whereof it may be said,
See, this is new? It hath already been done.
There is no remembrance of former things;
Neither shall there be remembrance of present things.
I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom
Concerning all things that are done under heaven:
This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man
To be exercised therewith.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;
And, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
That which is crooked cannot be made straight:
And that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
I communed with mine own heart, saying,
Lo, I am come to great estate,
And have gotten more wisdom than all they
That have been before me in Jerusalem: Yea,
My heart had great experience
Of wisdom and knowledge.
And I gave my heart to know wisdom,
And to know madness and folly:
I perceived that this also
Is vexation of spirit.
For in much wisdom is much grief:
And he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
Chapter 10
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary
To send forth a stinking savor:
So doth a little folly
In him that has a reputation for wisdom and honour.
A wise man's heart is at his right hand;
But a fool's heart at his left. Yea also,
When he that is a fool walks by,
You can tell he is a fool.
If the spirit of your ruler rise up against thee,
Leave not thy place; for yielding pacifieth great offences.
There is another evil which I have seen under the sun,
It is error which proceedeth from the ruler:
Fools are often set in positions of great dignity,
While those better qualified sit lower.
I have seen servants upon horses,
And princes walking as servants upon the earth.
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it;
Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith;
He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.
If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge,
Then must he work harder. Wisdom will prevent this.
Surely the serpent will bite unless charmed;
And a babbler is no different.
The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious;
But the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.
The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness:
And the end is mischievous madness.
A fool multiplies words, such that no one can trust him
On what has been, what is now, or will be.
The work of the foolish wearieth them,
They don’t even know the simplest things.
Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child,
And thy princes stuff themselves in the morning!
Blessed art thou, O land,
When thy king is the son of a free man.
And thy princes eat sparingly in due season,
For strength, and not for drunkenness!
By much slothfulness the building decayeth;
And through idleness of the hands
The house droppeth through.
A feast is made for laughter,
And wine maketh merry:
But money answereth all things.
Curse not the king, no not in thy thought;
And curse not the rich in thy bedchamber:
For a bird of the air shall carry the voice,
And that which hath wings shall tell the matter.
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