What benefit can a worker gain from his toil?

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

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

When a sentence is not executed at once against a crime, the human heart is encouraged to do evil.

Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, the place where you will eventually go.

I said of partying, “It is folly,” and of self-indulgent pleasure, “It accomplishes nothing!”

I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man on earth, and I concluded: Everything he has accomplished is futile – like chasing the wind!

I designed royal gardens and parks for myself, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

I constructed pools of water for myself, to irrigate my grove of flourishing trees.

I have concluded that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they live,

For there is not one truly righteous person on the earth who continually does good and never sins.

Surely the king’s authority is absolute; no one can say to him, “What are you doing?”

Feasts are made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.

God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, but he has also placed ignorance in the human heart so that people cannot discover what God has ordained, from the beginning to the end of their lives.

I also know that whatever God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it. God has made it this way, so that men will fear him.

I also amassed silver and gold for myself, as well as valuable treasures taken from kingdoms and provinces. I acquired male singers and female singers for myself, and what gives a man sensual delight – a harem of beautiful concubines!

Next, I decided to consider wisdom, as well as foolish behavior and ideas. For what more can the king’s successor do than what the king has already done?

So I loathed life because what happens on earth seems awful to me; for all the benefits of wisdom are futile – like chasing the wind.

But better than both is the one who has not been born and has not seen the evil things that are done on earth.

This alone have I discovered: God made humankind upright, but they have sought many evil schemes.