And I have given my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that which is done under the heavens. It is an evil task which God has given to the sons of men to be busied with.

What is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.

And I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I have perceived that this also is striving of spirit.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore regard pleasure; and this was vanity.

I sought in my heart to gratify my flesh with wine, while leading my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might find out what was good for the sons of men to do under the heavens all the days of their life.

Behold, this I have found, says the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the reckoning,

Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

Moreover I saw under the sun in the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

I said in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

For all this I took to heart, in order to explain it: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knows, whether by love or hatred, all that is before them.

All happens alike to everyone; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him who sacrifices, and to him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who swears is as he who fears an oath.

Righteous are You, O Jehovah, when I complain to You; yet let me speak with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those who deceive with treachery at ease?

You have planted them; yea, they take root. They grow, yea, they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth, but far from their heart.

By covetousness they will exploit you with well-turned words; whose judgment of old is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood on the world of the ungodly;

and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the lustful behavior of the wicked

then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment, to be punished,

knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,

For of this they are willfully ignorant: that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,

But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same Word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is longsuffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

The words of his mouth begin with foolishness; and the end of his talk is wicked madness.

And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and extremely furious, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, a thing which ought not to be done.

Get up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says Jehovah the God of Israel: There is a devoted thing in your midst, O Israel; you are not able to stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.

And she answered him, No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing should be done in Israel. Do not do this disgraceful thing!

Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.