Then that wealth was lost through bad luck; ¹  although he fathered a son, he has nothing left to give him. ² 

If the snake should bite before it is charmed, ¹  the snake charmer ²  is in trouble. ³ 

So ¹  I again considered ²  all the oppression ³  that continually occurs ⁴  on earth. ⁵  This is what I saw: ⁶  The oppressed ⁷  were in tears, ⁸  but no one was comforting them; no one delivers ⁹  them from the power of their oppressors.

Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, ¹  so no one has power over the day of his ²  death. Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, ³  so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked. ⁴ 

What exists now ¹  is what will be, ²  and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth. ³ 

Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished ¹  and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, ²  I concluded: ³  “All these ⁴  achievements and possessions ⁵  are ultimately ⁶  profitless ⁷  – like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained ⁸  from them ⁹  on earth.”

For if they fall, one will help his companion up, but pity ¹  the person who falls down and has no one to help him up.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward – and even the memory of them disappears. ¹ 

A man who is all alone with no companion, ¹  he has no children nor siblings; ²  yet there is no end to all his toil, and he ³  is never satisfied with riches. He laments, ⁴  “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself ⁵  of pleasure?” ⁶  This also is futile and a burdensome task! ⁷