What does a man gain for all his efforts
that he labors at under the sun?

I said about laughter, “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?”

For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?

For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

What does the worker gain from his struggles?

I know that all God does will last forever; there is no adding to it or taking from it. God works so that people will be in awe of Him.

When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he.

And if he lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?

What advantage then does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage is there for the poor person who knows how to conduct himself before others?

There is certainly no righteous man on the earth
who does good and never sins.

which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman.

Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath.

For man certainly does not know his time: like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in an evil time as it suddenly falls on them.

If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge,
then one must exert more strength;
however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success.