¹³ And I ^(A)applied my heart^[a] to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy ^(B)business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

¹⁰ I have seen ^(A)the business that ^(B)God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

¹⁷ And I ^(A)applied my heart to know wisdom and to know ^(B)madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ^(C)a striving after wind.

¹⁶ When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see ^(A)the business that is done on earth, how neither ^(B)day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, ¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that ^(C)man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, ^(D)he cannot find it out.

^25 (A)I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.

¹⁵ Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,^[a] so that ^(A)all may see your progress.

¹² My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making ^(A)many books there is no end, and ^(B)much study is a weariness of the flesh.

^9 (A)All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

⁴ Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is ^(A)vanity^[a] and a striving after wind.