All the rivers flow toward the sea, but the sea is never full; then rivers return to the headwaters where they began.

No one remembers those in the past, nor will they be remembered by those who come after them.

"As for human beings," I told myself, "God puts them to the test, that they might see themselves as mere animals."

For what happens to people also happens to animals a single event happens to them: just as someone dies, so does the other. In fact, they all breathe the same way, so that a human being has no superiority over an animal. All of this is pointless.

Next I turned to consider all kinds of oppression that exists on earth. Look at the tears of the oppressed there is no one to comfort them. Power is on the side of their oppressors; so they have no comforters.

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.

If they stumble, the first will lift up his friend but woe to anyone who is alone when he falls and there is no one to help him get up.

Again, if two lie close together, they will keep warm, but how can only one stay warm?

Watch your step whenever you visit God's house, and come more ready to listen than to offer a fool's sacrifice, since fools never think they're doing evil.

When possessions increase, so does the number of consumers; therefore what good are they to their owners, except to look at them?

Furthermore, though they never saw the sun nor learned anything, they are more content than the other.

Because many words lead to pointlessness, how do people benefit from this? 12Who knows what is best for people in this life, every day of their pointless lives that they pass through like a shadow? Who informs people on earth what will come along after them?

I have discovered only this: God made human beings for righteousness, but they seek many alternatives."

So I watched the wicked being entombed. They used to come in and out of the Holy Place, but now they are forgotten in the city, where they used to work. This, too, is pointless.

In light of all of this, I committed myself to explain it this way: the righteous and the wise, along with everything they do, are in the hands of God. Furthermore, as to love and hate, no human being knows everything concerning them.

There is a tragedy that infects everything that happens on earth: a common event happens to everyone. In fact, the hearts of human beings are full of evil. Madness remains in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they join the dead.

At least the living know they will die, but the dead know nothing; they no longer have a reward, since memory about them has been forgotten.

Furthermore, their love, their hate, and their envy have been long lost. Never again will they have a part in what happens on earth.

If the clouds are full of rain, they will pour out on the earth; if a tree falls toward the south or the north, wherever it falls, there it will lay.

when that day comes, the palace guards will tremble, strong men will stoop down, women grinders will cease because they are few, and the sight of those who peer through the lattice will grow dim.

At that time they will fear climbing heights and dangers along the road while the almond tree will blossom, and the grasshopper is weighed down. Desire will cease, because the person goes to his eternal home, and mourners will gather in the marketplace.