What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth?

What does a man acquire from all his labor and from the anxiety that accompanies his toil on earth?

and also that everyone should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all his toil, for these things are a gift from God.

The produce of the land is seized by all of them, even the king is served by the fields.

Let your clothes always be white, and do not spare precious ointment on your head.

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.”

Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master over all the fruit of my labor for which I worked so wisely on earth! This also is futile!

What I have continually sought, I have not found; I have found only one upright man among a thousand, but I have not found one upright woman among all of them.

What they loved, as well as what they hated and envied, perished long ago, and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth.

I have seen personally what is the only beneficial and appropriate course of action for people: to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in all their hard work on earth during the few days of their life which God has given them, for this is their reward.

This is the unfortunate fact about everything that happens on earth: the same fate awaits everyone. In addition to this, the hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is folly in their hearts during their lives – then they die.