What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?

All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.

And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.

The End of the Wise and the Fool

Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already done.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived That the same event happens to them all.

For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!

Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?

Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.

For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

The Vanity of Selfish Toil

Again, I saw that for all toil and every skillful work a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.

For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, Whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.

As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God.

A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he—

Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man,

All the labor of man is for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.

For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have, Who knows how to walk before the living?

Whatever one is, he has been named already, For it is known that he is man; And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.