¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(A)

² God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them,^(A) and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.^(B)

¹⁸ This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink^(A) and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor^(B) under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.

⁴ And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(A)

¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink,^(A) and find satisfaction^(B) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.^(C)

²² What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^{(A) 23} All their days their work is grief and pain;^(B) even at night their minds do not rest.^(C) This too is meaningless.

²⁴ A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^(D) and find satisfaction in their own toil.^(E) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^(F)