Ecclesiastes 2:14-22

¹⁴The wise man uses his eyes in his head to see where he is going, but the fool walks in darkness, although I know the same event happens to all of them.

¹⁵Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool, will also happen to me. So what difference does it make if I am very wise?” I concluded in my heart, “This too is only vapor.”

¹⁶For the wise man, like the fool, is not remembered for very long. In the days to come everything will have been long forgotten. The wise man dies just like the fool dies.

¹⁷So I detested life because all the work done under the sun was evil to me. This was because everything is vapor and an attempt to shepherd the wind.

¹⁸I hated all my accomplishments for which I had worked under the sun because I must leave them behind to the man who comes after me.

¹⁹For who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master over everything under the sun that my work and wisdom have built. This also is vapor.

²⁰Therefore my heart began to despair over all the work under the sun that I did.

²¹For there might be someone who works with wisdom, with knowledge, and skill, but he will leave everything he has to a man who has not made any of it. This also is vapor and a great tragedy.

²²For what profit does the person gain who works so hard and tries in his heart to complete his labors under the sun?