Aramaic Targum to Ecclesiastes

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5.18
Also every man to whom the Lord has given riches and wealth, and if the Lord gave him power to eat of it in this world, and to do good with it, and to receive a full reward iu the world to come, and to rejoice in his work with the righteous, behold! this is a gift which is given to him in providence, it is from the Lord.
5.19
For not many are the days of man's life; who tries to find out the days of his life, how many of them will be good, and how many of them will be evil? because it is not in the power of the children of men; but it is fixed about him from the Lord, how many days he shall suffer, and how many days he shall be in the joy of his heart.
6.1
There is an evil which I saw in this world under the sun, and it is great upon the children of man.
6.2
A man to whom God gave in his providence riches, honour, and wealth, and his soul lacks nothing of all which he desires, and the Lord has not given him power, on account of his sins, to enjoy it; but he dies without issue, and his kinsman would not take possession of his inheritance, wherefore his wife will be married to a stranger, and he will take away the inheritance and consume it; all this his sins have brought upon him, because he did therewith no good whatever, and his riches turned out to be to him vanity and a sore evil.
6.3
If a man should beget a hundred children, and live many years, and be in power and dominion all the days of his life, and his soul has not enjoyed the good which he has, because he loved his riches, and has not acquired therewith a good name, nor even prepared himself a grave, I say by the divine word, better than he an untimely birth, which has not seen this world.
6.4
For in vanity he came into this world, and departs in darkness into that world; and in darkness is his name covered, because he has no merit, and has not acquired a good name worthy of remembrance.
6.5
And even the light of the sun he saw not, and did not know good from evil, to discern between this world and the world to come.
6.6
And if the days of the life of this man were two thousand years, and he had not studied the Law, and had not done judgment and justice by the oath of the word of the Lord, in the day of his death his soul will go to Gehenna, to the same place whither all sinners go.
6.7
As for all the labours of man, he labours for the food of his mouth; and by the word of the mouth of the Lord he is sustained, and even the soul of man is not satisfied with eating and drinking.
6.8
For what advantage has the wise man in this world over the fool, because of the wicked generation by which he is not accepted; and what is this poor man to do but to study the law of the Lord, that he may know how he will have to walk in the presence of the righteous in paradise.
6.9
It is better for a man to rejoice about the world to come, and to do righteousness, and to see a good reward for his labours in the day of the great judgment than to go into that world with an afflicted soul; for this is vanity, and a breaking of spirit to a guilty man.
6.10
That which has been in the world, behold! its name has long been called, and has been made known to the children of men from the day that the first Adam existed, and all is the decree of the Lord; and men cannot stand in judgment with the Lord of the world, who is stronger than he.
6.11
For there are many things which multiply vanity in the world, what advantage has the man who is occupied with them?
6.12
For who is he that knows what will do men good in this world, but to study the Law, which is the life of the world; and all the number of the days of his vain life which he lives, are in the time of his death considered like a shadow; for who is he that can tell man what there is before him in this world under the sun?
7.1
Better the good name which the righteous acquire in this world, than the anointing oil which was poured upon the heads of kings and priests; and the day wherein a man dies and departs to the grave with a good name and merits, than the day wherein the wicked is born into the world.
7.2
It is better to go to a mourning man to comfort him, than to go to the house of a feast of wine of the scorners; for into the house of mourning thither is the end of all men to go, for upon all is decreed the decree of death, and by going into the house of mourning the righteous man sits down and takes to heart the words of death; and if there be any evil in his hand he will leave it, and return in repentance before the Lord of the world.
7.3
Better is the anger wherewith the Lord of the world is angry with the righteous in this world, than the laughter wherewith he laughs at the wicked; for by the displeasure of the face of the Shechinah come famine and punishment into the world to improve the heart of the righteous, and they pray before the Lord of the world, who has mercy upon them.
7.4
The heart of the wise mourns over the destruction of tlie temple, and grieves over the captivity of the house of Israel; and the heart of fools is in the joy of the house of their scoffings; they eat and drink and fare sumptuously, and do not take to heart the affliction of their brethren.
7.5
Better to sit at the teaching of the house of instruction, and to hear the reproof of the wise in the Law, than for a man to go to hear the sound of a musical instrument of a fool.
7.6
For as the sound of the crackling of thorns which burn under a pot, so is the noisy laughter of the fool; this also is vanity.
7.7
For the robber mocks at the wise man because he goes not in his way, and destroys with his evil speech the prudent heart of the wise, which was given to him as a gift from heaven.
7.8
Better the end of a thing than the beginning thereof, for in its beginning man knows not what its end will be, but the end of a good thing is known to a good man; and better before the Lord is a man who rules over his spirit and subdues his carnal thouglits, than a man who walks in the pride of his spirit.
7.9
And when chastisements from heaven come upon thee, do not hasten thy heart to anger, and to utter words of rebellion against heaven, for if thou bearest them patiently, they will depart from thee; and if thou art rebellious and angry, know that anger rests in the lap of fools till it has destroyed them.
7.10
In the time of oppression, say not what was before now was good in the world; for the former days were better, and the men of that generation had better doings than these, therefore good came to them; and thou askest not according to wisdom about this.
7.11
Good is the wisdom of the law, along with the inheritance of money, and better still for a man to humbly conduct himself with men, the dwellers of the earth, who see good and evil under the sun in this world.
7.12
For as a man is sheltered under the shadow of wisdom, so he is sheltered under the shadow of money, when he does alms with it; and the advantage of knowing the wisdom of the law is that it raises its possessor from the grave for the world to come.
7.13
Consider the work of the Lord, and his strength, who made the blind, the hunchback, and the lame, to be wonders in the world; for who is he that can make straight one of these, but the Lord of the world who made him crooked ?
7.14
In the day when the Lord is doing good, be thou also happy and do good to all the world; that the evil day may not come upon thee, see and behold! and also God has made this against that to reprove the men of the world, so that man should not find after him any evil in the world to come.
7.15
All this I saw in the days of my vanity, that from the Lord are decreed good and evil to be in the world, according to the planets under which the children of men are created; for there is a righteous man perishing in his righteousness in this world, and his merit is kept for him for the world to come; and there is a wicked man who prolongs his days in his guilt, and the account of his evil doings is kept for him for the world to come, to be requited for it in the day of the great judgment.
7.16
Be not over-righteous when the guilty is found guilty of death in thy court of judgment, so as to have compassion on him and not to kill him; and do not thus become over-wise with the wisdom of the wicked who stand in the way, and do not learn their ways; why, then, wilt thou destroy thy way?
7.17
Go not after the thought of thy heart to sin much, and do not make thy way far from the teaching of the law of God to become a fool; why shouldst thou cause death to thy soul, and the years of thy life be shortened to die, before thy time comes to die?
7.18
It is good thou shouldst combine the affairs of this world, namely, to do good to thyself in the way of merchants, and also that thou hold fast thy portion in the Book of the Law, for a man fearing before the Lord performs the duty of both.
7.19
And the wisdom of Joseph, son of Jacob, helped him to make him wise before his ten righteous brethren, who ruled in the fear of the Lord; and the evil spirit did not rule in them when they were in the metropolis of Egypt, and did not kill their brother Joseph who annoyed them at that time with the voice of his words.
7.20
For there is no righteous man in the land, who does good all his days, and sins not before the Lord; but the man who sins before the Lord, it behoves him to return in repentance before he dies.
7.21
Moreover give not thy heart to accept all the words which the wicked speak to thee, that the days may not come when thou shalt hear thy servant curse thee, aud thou hast not the power to be delivered from his hands.
7.22
Then see to it, adjudicate thy cause when a man curses thee who is not like thyself; for also many times thy heart knows that thou too hast cursed other men.
7.23
All that I said f have tried by wisdom: I said by my word, I shall also be wise in all the wisdom of the Law, but it was far from me.
7.24
Behold, long has it been far from the children of men to know all that has been from the days of old; and who is he that will find out by his wisdom the secret of the day of death, and the secret of the day when the King Messiah will come?
7.25
I turned to think in my heart, and to know and to examine and to seek wisdom, and the estimate of the reward of the works of the righteous, and to know the punishment of the guilt of the fool, and the understanding of the fear of the Kingdom.
7.26
And I found a thing more bitter to man than the bitterness of the day of death, namely, a woman who causes much tribulation to her husband, and entangles him; in whose heart are snares, and whose hands are bound that she might not work with them; the righteous before God is the man who gets rid of her by a bill of divorcement, and relieves himself of her; but the guilty before God is the man who abides with her, and is ensnared with her adultery.
7.27
Behold,thisis the work which I have found, said Coheleth, who is called Solomon, King of Israel, I have examined the planets one in connection with the other, to find out the account of the children of men, what will be in their end.
7.28
There is another thing which my soul is still seeking, and I have not found, namely, a perfect and just man, without any corruption, as Abraham; from the days of the first Adam till the righteous Abraham was born, who was found faithful and just among the thousand kings that gathered together to build the tower of Babel? and a woman, as Sarah, among all the wives of those kings, I have not found.
7.29
Only, behold! this I found, that God made the first Adam upright before him and just; and the serpent and Eve seduced him to eat of the fruit of the tree, because those who eat its fruit would be wise to discern between good and evil, and they brought upon him and all the inhabitants of the earth the day of death; and they sought to find many accounts in order to bring terror upon the inhabitants of the earth.
8.1
Who is as a wise man, that he can stand before the wisdom of the Lord, and know the interpretations of his words, like the prophets? The wisdom of a wise man enlightens the brightness of his face among the righteous, and as for the impudent, all his ways are changed from good to bad.
8.2
Guard thy mouth about the commands of the King to keep whatsoever he commands, and be also on thy guard about the matter of an oath of the Lord, that thou swear not by the name of his word in vain.
8.3
And in the time of the anger of the Lord do not cease to pray before him, tremble before him, go and pray and seek mercy from him, because thou canst not stand in an evil matter; for the Lord of all worlds, the Lord, will do what he pleases.
8.4
In the place where the word of the King who rules over all the world is gone forth, it is done immediately, and who is the man that would restrain his hand, and say unto him, What doest thou?
8.5
The man who keeps the commandments of the Lord shall not know any evil in the world to come; and the time of prayer, and judgment, and truth, is known in the heart of the wise.
8.6
For to every business there is a good and an evil time, and by a true judgment is the whole world judged; and when it is decreed from the Lord that punishment should be in the world, it is because of the guilt of evil doers which is heavy upon them.
8.7
For no wise man knows what will bewith him at the end, for when it shall be the pleasure before the Lord to afflict him, who is he that will tell him it?
8.8
There is no man who has power over his breathing soul to retain the soul of life, that it should not depart from the human body; and there is no power in the day of death for a man to save his companion, and no instruments of war to help in the battle, and guilt will not save its master in the great day of judgment.
8.9
All this I saw which has happened in this world, and I gave my heart to know all the work which is worked in this world under the sun, at the time when man rules over man to afflict him.
8.10
And indeed I have seen sinners who are buried and blotted out of the world, from the holy place where the righteous dwell, and went to be burned in Gehenna, and are forgotten from among the inhabitants of the city, and as they have done to others, so it is done to them; also this is vanity.
8.11
And because the evil thing, the punishment of the wicked, is not quickly executed upon their evil works, therefore the heart of the children of men is full in them to do evil in this world.
8.12
And when a sinner does evil a hundred years, and space is given him from the Lord in order that he may repent, yet is it revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, and I know that it will be well in the world to come with those that fear the Lord, that fear before him,and do his will;
8.13
and that it shall not be well with the wicked, and there shall be no space for him in the world to come; and in this world the days of his life shall be cut off, they shall fly and pass away like a shadow, because he feared not before the Lord.
8.14
There is a vanity that is decreed to be done upon the face of the earth; there are righteous to whom evil happens as if they had done like the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked to whom it happens as if they had done like the works of the righteous; and I saw by the Holy Spirit that the evil which happens to the righteous in this world is not for their guilt, but to free them from a slight transgression, that their reward may be perfect in the world to come; and the good that comes to the sinners in this world is not for their merits, but to render them a reward for their small merit they have acquired, so that they may eat their reward in this world, and to destroy their portion in the world to come; I said, by my word, this also is vanity.
8.15
And I praised the joy of the Law, since there is no good for man in this world under the sun, but to eat and drink and rejoice in his labour and in his portion, which is given to him from heaven, and not stretch out his hands in violence and rapine; and this will lead him to peace in that world, and he shall receive a perfect reward for his labours wherewith he sincerely laboured all the days of his life, which the Lord gave him in this world under the sun.
8.16
As I gave my heart to know the wisdom of the Law, and to see the business which is done upon the earth, for even the wise who desires to be occupied with the Law and to find wisdom must toil, since he has no rest in the day, and sees no sleep with his eyes in the night.
8.17
And I saw every mighty work of the Lord, for it is awful; and man cannot find out the mighty work of the Lord which is done in this world under the sun; when man labours to seek what will be, he shall not find it; and even if a wise man says by his word, that he will know what will be at the end of days, he cannot find it.

Coheleth, trans. by C.D.Ginsburg, London 1861. Via Sefaria (sefaria.org), Sefaria-Export. Version source: Coheleth, Commonly called the Book of Ecclesiastes in 1861, by C.D. Gill Licence: Public Domain. Source.