²⁶ Then God said, “^[a]Let ^(A)Us make ^(B)mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and ^[b]let them ^(C)rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man ^(D)in His own image, in the image of God He created him; ^(E)male and female He created them. ²⁸ God blessed them; and God said to them, “^(F)Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that ^[c]moves on the earth.”

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

The Futility of Labor

¹⁸ So I hated ^(A)all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must ^(B)leave it to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be wise or ^(C)a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is ^(D)futility. ²⁰ Therefore I ^[a]completely despaired over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. ²¹ When there is a person who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and ^(E)skill, and then ^(F)gives his ^[b]legacy to one who has not labored for it; this too is futility and a great evil. ²² For what does a person get in ^(G)all his labor and in ^[c]his striving with which he labors under the sun? ²³ Because all his days his activity is painful and ^(H)irritating; even at night his ^[d]mind ^(I)does not rest. This too is futility.

The River and the Tree of Life

22 And ^(A)he showed me a ^(B)river of the ^(C)water of life, ^[a]clear ^(D)as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of ^[b]the Lamb, ² in the middle of ^(E)its street. ^(F)On either side of the river was ^(G)the tree of life, bearing twelve ^[c]kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ^3 (H)There will no longer be any curse; and ^(I)the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will ^(J)serve Him; ⁴ they will ^(K)see His face, and His ^(L)name will be on their ^(M)foreheads. ⁵ And ^(N)there will no longer be any night; and they ^[d]will not have need ^(O)of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will ^(P)reign forever and ever.