¹So I returned, and I saw all the oppressions which are perpetrated under the sun.

And what I saw was the tear of the oppressed,

Who have no comforter,

While from the hand of those who oppress them comes force.

And they have no comforter.

²Then I praised the dead,

Who have already died,

More than the living,

Who are still alive.

³Yet better than both is he

Who has not yet come into being,

Who has not seen the wicked work

Which has been done under the sun.

⁴And I saw all the toil and all the skill applied to the work, for it is a man's rivalry with his neighbour. This too is vanity and idle pursuit.

⁵The fool folds his arms

And eats his own flesh.

⁶A handful in quiet is better

Than two fistfuls in toil and idle pursuit.

⁷Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

⁸There is a certain man,

And there is no-one in his company,

Neither does he have son or brother,

And there is no end to all his toil,

Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.

And he says, ‘For whom do I toil,

And deprive myself of goodness?’

This too is vanity,

And it is a bad state of affairs.

⁹Two are better than one,

In that they have good wages for their toil.

¹⁰For if they fall,

One will get his colleague up.

But alas for one on his own who falls

When there is no other to get him up.

¹¹Also if two lie down together

Then they have warmth.

But how will one on his own

Become warm?

¹²If anyone would overpower the one,

Two will stand against him.

And a triple thread

Is not quickly broken.

¹³It is better to be a poor but wise child

Than an old and foolish king

Who no longer knows how to receive admonition.

¹⁴For he comes out of prison to reign,

But also in his kingdom

A poor man is born.

¹⁵I have seen all who are alive,

Walking under the sun,

With the heir apparent

Who will succeed him.

¹⁶There is no end to all the people

– To all who were before them –

Neither will the latter ones rejoice in him,

For this too is vanity and idle pursuit.