| | | English | Latin |
| 2 | 1 | I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity. | dixi ego in corde meo vadam et affluam deliciis et fruar bonis et vidi quod hoc quoque esset vanitas |
| 2 | 2 | Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art thou vainly deceived? | risum reputavi errorem et gaudio dixi quid frustra deciperis |
| 2 | 3 | I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I might turn my mind to wisdom, and might avoid folly, till I might see what was profitable for the children of men: and what they ought to do under the sun, all the days of their life. | cogitavi in corde meo abstrahere a vino carnem meam ut animum meum transferrem ad sapientiam devitaremque stultitiam donec viderem quid esset utile filiis hominum quod facto opus est sub sole numero dierum vitae suae |
| 2 | 4 | I made me great works, I built me houses, and planted vineyards, | magnificavi opera mea aedificavi mihi domos plantavi vineas |
| 2 | 5 | I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds, | feci hortos et pomeria et consevi ea cuncti generis arboribus |
| 2 | 6 | And I made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of the young trees, | extruxi mihi piscinas aquarum ut inrigarem silvam lignorum germinantium |
| 2 | 7 | I got me menservants, and maidservants, and had a great family: and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep, above all that were before me in Jerusalem: | possedi servos et ancillas multamque familiam habui armenta quoque et magnos ovium greges ultra omnes qui fuerunt ante me in Hierusalem |
| 2 | 8 | I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing women, and the delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to serve to pour out wine: | coacervavi mihi argentum et aurum et substantias regum ac provinciarum feci mihi cantores et cantrices et delicias filiorum hominum scyphos et urceos in ministerio ad vina fundenda |
| 2 | 9 | And I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Jerusalem: my wisdom also remained with me. | et supergressus sum opibus omnes qui fuerunt ante me in Hierusalem sapientia quoque perseveravit mecum |
| 2 | 10 | And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: and I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the things which I had prepared: and esteemed this my portion, to make use of my own labour. | et omnia quae desideraverunt oculi mei non negavi eis nec prohibui cor quin omni voluptate frueretur et oblectaret se in his quae paraveram et hanc ratus sum partem meam si uterer labore meo |
| 2 | 11 | And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun. | cumque me convertissem ad universa opera quae fecerant manus meae et ad labores in quibus frustra sudaveram vidi in omnibus vanitatem et adflictionem animi et nihil permanere sub sole |
| 2 | 12 | I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I that he can follow the King his maker?) | transivi ad contemplandam sapientiam erroresque et stultitiam quid est inquam homo ut sequi possit regem factorem suum |
| 2 | 13 | And I saw that wisdom excelled folly, as much as light differeth from darkness. | et vidi quia tantum praecederet sapientia stultitiam quantum differt lux tenebris |
| 2 | 14 | The eyes of a wise man are in his head: the fool walketh in darkness: and I learned that they were to die both alike. | sapientis oculi in capite eius stultus in tenebris ambulat et didici quod unus utriusque esset interitus |
| 2 | 15 | And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this also was vanity. | et dixi in corde meo si unus et stulti et meus occasus erit quid mihi prodest quod maiorem sapientiae dedi operam locutusque cum mente mea animadverti quod hoc quoque esset vanitas |
| 2 | 16 | For there shall be no remembrance of the wise no more than of the fool forever, and the times to come shall cover all things together with oblivion: the learned dieth in like manner as the unlearned. | non enim erit memoria sapientis similiter ut stulti in perpetuum et futura tempora oblivione cuncta pariter obruent moritur doctus similiter et indoctus |
| 2 | 17 | And therefore I was weary of my life, when I saw that all things under the sun are evil, and all vanity and vexation of spirit. | et idcirco taeduit me vitae meae videntem mala esse universa sub sole et cuncta vanitatem atque adflictionem spiritus |
| 2 | 18 | Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me, | rursum detestatus sum omnem industriam meam quae sub sole studiosissime laboravi habiturus heredem post me |
| 2 | 19 | Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and he shall have rule over all my labours with which I have laboured and been solicitous: and is there anything so vain? | quem ignoro utrum sapiens an stultus futurus sit et dominabitur in laboribus meis quibus desudavi et sollicitus fui et est quicquam tam vanum |
| 2 | 20 | Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring anymore under the sun. | unde cessavi renuntiavitque cor meum ultra laborare sub sole |
| 2 | 21 | For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this also is vanity, and a great evil. | nam cum alius laboret in sapientia et doctrina et sollicitudine homini otioso quaesita dimittit et hoc ergo vanitas et magnum malum |
| 2 | 22 | For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun? | quid enim proderit homini de universo labore suo et adflictione spiritus qua sub sole cruciatus est |
| 2 | 23 | All his days are full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity? | cuncti dies eius doloribus et aerumnis pleni sunt nec per noctem mente requiescit et haec non vanitas est |
| 2 | 24 | Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God. | nonne melius est comedere et bibere et ostendere animae suae bona de laboribus suis et hoc de manu Dei est |
| 2 | 25 | Who shall so feast and abound with delights as I? | quis ita vorabit et deliciis affluet ut ego |
| 2 | 26 | God hath given to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that hath pleased God: but this also is vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind. | homini bono in conspectu suo dedit Deus sapientiam et scientiam et laetitiam peccatori autem dedit adflictionem et curam superfluam ut addat et congreget et tradat ei qui placuit Deo sed et hoc vanitas et cassa sollicitudo mentis |