But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers."

"Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.

Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!

Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."

I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Work

I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

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

The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me.

Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.

For

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

General references

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

And I thought the dead who are already dead more fortunate than the living who are still alive.

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.