-
What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?
-
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
-
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
-
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
-
Toil Is Meaningless
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
-
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
-
And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
-
So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
-
What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?
-
And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
-
Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness
Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.
-
But better than both is the one who has never been born, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
-
Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:
-
I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor.
-
I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
-
This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.
-
I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind:
-
For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
-
All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt.
-
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
-
then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
-
This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
-
Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
-
Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.
-
I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.
