Ecclesiastes 5:13-20

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹³ There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,^{(A) 14} and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. ¹⁵ As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil that they may carry away with their hands.^{(B) 16} This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?^{(C) 17} Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much anger and sickness and resentment.^(D)

¹⁸ This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot.^{(E) 19} Likewise, all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God.^{(F) 20} For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.