And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this severe burden has God given to the sons of man to be afflicted with.

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.

And I set my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is like grasping the wind.

I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men, which they should do under heaven all the days of their life.

Behold, this have I found, says the preacher, adding one thing to another, to find out the reason:

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

And moreover I saw under the sun the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

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

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them.

All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrifices, and to him that sacrifices not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that swears, as he that fears an oath.

Righteous are you, O LORD, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

You have planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

And through covetousness shall they with false words exploit you: whose judgment of old now lingers not, and their destruction slumbers not.

And spared not the ancient world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy behavior of the wicked:

The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

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

But the heavens and the earth, which now are, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing 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 unto 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 beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness: and the end of his talk is wicked madness.

And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.

Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow: for thus says the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of you, O Israel: you can not stand before your enemies, until you take away the accursed thing from among you.

And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not you this folly.

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

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