⁸ For what advantage have the wise over fools? And what do the poor have who know how to conduct themselves before the living?^(A)

Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them.^{(A) 15} Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity.^{(B) 16} For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools?

¹⁷ As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.^(A)

⁶ Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.^(A)