Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷ 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.^{(A) 18} I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.^{(B) 19} And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(C) 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. ²⁰ So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹ For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²² What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^{(D) 23} All their days their work is grief and pain;^(E) even at night their minds do not rest.^(F) This too is meaningless.

²⁴ A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^(G) and find satisfaction in their own toil.^(H) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^{(I) 25} for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?^{(J) 26} To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^(K) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^(L) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^(M) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” ¹⁵ Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”^(A)

¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. ¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. ¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool!^(B) This very night your life will be demanded from you.^(C) Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’^(D)

²¹ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”^(E)