I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, ¹  just as light is preferable to darkness:

For no one ¹  can eat and drink ²  or experience joy ³  apart from him. ⁴ 

So I considered ¹  those who are dead and gone ²  more fortunate than those who are still alive. ³ 

Two people are better than one, because they can reap ¹  more benefit ²  from their labor.

So what advantage does a wise man have over a fool? ¹  And what advantage ²  does a pauper gain by knowing how to survive? ³ 

I have examined all this by wisdom; I said, “I am determined ¹  to comprehend this” ²  – but it was beyond my grasp. ³ 

Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years – even if he lives a long, long time, ¹  but cannot enjoy his prosperity – even if he were to live forever ²  – I would say, “A stillborn child ³  is better off than he is!” ⁴ 

Both go to the same place, both come from the dust, and to dust both return.

Whatever has happened was foreordained, ¹  and what happens to a person ²  was also foreknown. It is useless for him to argue with God about his fate because God is more powerful than he is. ³ 

But whoever is among ¹  the living ²  has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion.

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.

For the fate of humans ¹  and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.

To every man whom God has given wealth, and possessions, he has also given him the ability ¹  to eat from them, to receive his reward and to find enjoyment in his toil; these things ²  are the gift of God.

God gives a man riches, property, and wealth so that he lacks nothing that his heart ¹  desires, ²  yet God does not enable ³  him to enjoy ⁴  the fruit of his labor ⁵  – instead, someone else ⁶  enjoys ⁷  it! ⁸  This is fruitless and a grave misfortune. ⁹ 

I discovered this: ¹  More bitter than death is the kind of ²  woman ³  who is like a hunter’s snare; ⁴  her heart is like a hunter’s net and her hands are like prison chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is captured by her.