I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to draw near in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, for they ignorantly do wrong.

As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.

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

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

It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
since that is the end of all mankind,
and the living should take it to heart.

Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him.

However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live—after that they go to the dead.

Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.

The struggles of fools weary them,
for they don’t know how to go to the city.