Finally, I said to myself, “Being wise got me nowhere! The same thing will happen to me that happens to fools. Nothing makes sense.

Wise or foolish, we all die and are soon forgotten.”

This made me hate life. Everything we do is painful; it's just as senseless as chasing the wind.

Suddenly I realized that others would someday get everything I had worked for so hard, then I started hating it all.

Who knows if those people will be sensible or stupid? Either way, they will own everything I have earned by hard work and wisdom. It doesn't make sense.

When we use our wisdom, knowledge, and skill to get what we own, why do we have to leave it to someone who didn't work for it? This is senseless and wrong.

Our bodies ache during the day, and work is torture. Then at night our thoughts are troubled. It just doesn't make sense.

If we please God, he will make us wise, understanding, and happy. But if we sin, God will make us struggle for a living, then he will give all we own to someone who pleases him. This makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

Everything Has Its Time

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.

for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting.

for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking.

I have seen what difficult things God demands of us.

Everything God has done will last forever; nothing he does can ever be changed. God has done all this, so that we will worship him.

The Future Is Known Only to God

Everywhere on earth I saw violence and injustice instead of fairness and justice.

So I told myself that God has set a time and a place for everything. He will judge everyone, both the wicked and the good.

I know God is testing us to show us that we are merely animals.

Like animals we breathe and die, and we are no better off than they are. It just doesn't make sense.

All living creatures go to the same place. We are made from earth, and we return to earth.

Who really knows if our spirits go up and the spirits of animals go down into the earth?

I looked again and saw people being mistreated everywhere on earth. They were crying, but no one was there to offer comfort, and those who mistreated them were powerful.

I said to myself, “The dead are better off than the living.

But those who have never been born are better off than anyone else, because they have never seen the terrible things that happen on this earth.”

Then I realized that we work and do wonderful things just because we are jealous of others. This makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

Fools will fold their hands and starve to death.

Once again I saw that nothing on earth makes sense.