Dead flies cause the perfumer's ointment to stink, to ferment; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

A wise man's heart inclines to his right, but a fool's heart inclines to his left.

And also, when the fool walks on the way, his sense fails him, and he tells everyone that he is a fool.

If the ruler's spirit rises up against you, do not leave your place; for composure allays great offenses.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, like an error that proceeds from the ruler:

Folly is set in many high places, and rich men sit in a low place.

I have seen servants on horses and princes walking on the earth like servants.

He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent;

Whoever quarries stones will be hurt by them, and whoever splits logs will be endangered by them.

If the iron is blunt, and one does not whet the edge, then he must apply more strength; but wisdom has the advantage of giving success.

If the serpent bites before it is charmed, then there is no advantage in a charmer.

The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool swallow him up.

The beginning of the words of his mouth is folly, and the end of his talk is wicked madness.

Yet the fool multiplies words. No man knows what will be; and what will be after him, who can tell him?

The labor of fools wears them out, because they do not know even how to get to town.

Woe to you, O land whose king is a young boy and whose princes feast in the morning!

Happy are you, O land whose king is the son of nobles and whose princes feast at the proper time, for strength and not for drunkenness!

Through slothfulness the rafters sag, and through idleness of hands the house leaks.

 ¹They make a feast for laughter, and wine makes life merry, and money is the answer to everything.

Do not curse the king even in your thought, and do not curse a rich man in your bedroom; for a bird of heaven will carry the sound, or something with wings will tell the matter.

Cast your bread upon the surface of the waters, for you will find it in many days.

Give a portion to seven, and even to eight, for you do not know what calamity will happen on the earth.

If the clouds are full, they pour forth rain on the earth; and whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, in the place where it falls, there will it be.

He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who looks at the clouds will not reap.

Just as you do not know what the path of the wind is or how the bones are formed in the mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not hold back your hands; for you do not know which will prosper, this one or that, or whether both alike will be good.

The light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

Indeed if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in all of them; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that comes is vanity.

Rejoice,  ¹young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be merry in the days of your youth; and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.

So remove vexation from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for childhood and the dawn of life are vanity.

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the  ¹evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, I have no pleasure in them;

Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are  ¹darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;

In the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the men of strength bow themselves and the women who grind cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows see dimly;

And when the doors are shut on the street; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one arises at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low;

When also men are afraid of what is high, and terrors are on the way; and the almond tree blossoms, and the grasshopper is a burden, and the caperberry is ineffective (for man will go to his everlasting home while mourners go around in the street);

Before the silver cord is undone, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the cistern,

And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.

Vanity of vanity, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

And in addition to being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered and studied and arranged many proverbs.

The Preacher sought to find pleasing words, and he wrote words of truth rightly.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like well-driven nails are the collections of them; they are given by one Shepherd.

And of what is beyond these, my son, beware: Of the making of many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter, when all has been heard, is this:  ¹Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man.

For God will bring every deed to  ¹judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.