1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:
2 A man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
3 If a man begets a hundred sons, and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
4 For it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and the name of it is covered with darkness.
5 Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it, this [one] has rest rather than the other.
6 Yea, though he lives a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoys no good, do not all go to one place?
8 For what advantage has the wise man more than the fool? What has the poor man, who knows how to walk before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
10 Whatever has been, the name of it was given long ago, and it is know what man is. Neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.
11 Since there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?