{I said to myself}, "Look! I have become great and have increased [in] wisdom more than anyone who {has preceded} me over Jerusalem. {I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge}."

I acquired male slaves and female slaves, as well as children [born in my] house. I also had livestock, cattle, and flocks more than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem.

Thus, {I accomplished far more} than anyone who [was] before me in Jerusalem--indeed, my wisdom stood by me.

Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone [do] who will come after the king that has not already been done?

So I hated all my toil with which I have toiled under the sun, for I must leave it behind to someone who will be after me.

And who knows [whether] he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all [the fruit of] my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also [is] vanity!

For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.

For who can eat [and drink], and who can enjoy [life] apart from him?

For to the person who [is] good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give [it] to [him who is] pleasing to him. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

I looked again, and I saw all the oppression that occurs under the sun. {I saw the tears of the oppressed-- no one comforts them! Those who oppress them are powerful-- no one can comfort them}!

So I deemed the dead who have already died more [fortunate] than the living who are still alive.

But better [off] than both of them is the one who has not yet been born and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. [He laments,] "For whom am I toiling and depriving {myself} of pleasure?" This also [is] vanity--it is an unhappy business!

For if one falls, his companion may help him up. But pity the one who falls and there is {no one} to help him up.

A poor but wise youth [is] better than an old but foolish king who no longer knows {how to receive advice}.

I saw all the living who move about under the sun with the youth; the second who will stand in his place.

There is no end to all the people, to all who were before him. Yet the later generation will not rejoice in him, for this also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

When prosperity increases, those who consume it increase. {So its owner gains nothing, except to see his wealth before it is spent}.

This indeed is a gift of God: everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions, he also empowers him {to enjoy them}, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in [the fruit of] his toil.

For who knows what [is] good for a man in his life during the few days of his fleeting life, which are fleeting as a shadow? For who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future} under the sun?

Consider the work of God. For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?

Wisdom gives more strength to the wise than ten rulers who are in the city.

Surely there is no one righteous on the earth who [continually] does good and never sins.

{Whatever is--it is far beyond comprehension}. Who can discover it?

I myself found [that] more bitter than death [is] the woman who [is] a trap, whose heart [is] a snare, and whose hands [are] bonds. The one who pleases God escapes from her, but the sinner is caught by her.

Who [is] like the sage? Who knows [the] interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

Surely no one knows what will be, so who can tell anyone what will happen?

Meanwhile, I saw the wicked being [honorably] buried, but those who came and went from the holy place were forgotten in the city, even though they had done so. This also [is] vanity!

Although the sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will be good for those who fear God--because they fear {his presence}.

The same fate [comes] to everyone: to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the wicked, to the clean and to the unclean, to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice. As [with] the good [man], so also to the sinner; [as with] those who swear an oath, so [also] those who fear oaths.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which he gives you under the sun, because this [is] your lot in life and in the toil with which you toil under the sun.

For man does not know his time. Just as fish are caught in a cruel net and like birds who are seized in a snare, so also {humans} are ensnared at a cruel time when it falls suddenly upon them.

The fool {talks too much}, for no one knows what will be. Who can tell anyone what will happen {in the future}?

Just as you do not know how the path of the wind [goes], nor how the bones [of a fetus] form in a mother's womb, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.