21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from (A)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For (B)all his days are full of sorrow, and his (C)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

24 (D)There is nothing better for a person than that he should (E)eat and drink and find enjoyment[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is (F)from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him (G)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given (H)the business of gathering and collecting, (I)only to give to one who pleases God. (J)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:24 Or and make his soul see good
  2. Ecclesiastes 2:25 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me

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