Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also happen to me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said to myself, “This too is futility.”

For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will soon be forgotten. And how the wise and the fool alike die!

So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

The Futility of Labor

So I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is futility.

Therefore I completely despaired over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

When there is a person who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then gives his legacy to one who has not labored for it; this too is futility and a great evil.

For what does a person get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?

There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink, and show himself some good in his trouble. This too I have seen, that it is from the hand of God.

For to a person who is good in His sight, He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is futility and striving after wind.

A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.

A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak.

I have seen the task which God has given the sons of mankind with which to occupy themselves.

God Set Eternity in the Heart of Mankind

He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, without the possibility that mankind will find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

moreover, that every person who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—this is the gift of God.

I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it. And God has so worked, that people will fear Him.

That which is, is what has already been, and that which will be has already been; and God seeks what has passed by.

Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

I said to myself, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.

I said to myself regarding the sons of mankind, “God is testing them in order for them to see that they are as animals, they to themselves.”

For the fate of the sons of mankind and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath, and there is no advantage for mankind over animals, for all is futility.

All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

Who knows that the spirit of the sons of mankind ascends upward and the spirit of the animal descends downward to the earth?

I have seen that nothing is better than when a person is happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him?