ECCLESIASTES 2:14-23

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all.

¹⁵Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also was vanity.

¹⁶For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been already forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!

¹⁷So I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me: for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁸And I hated all my labour wherein I laboured under the sun: seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

¹⁹And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

²⁰Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour wherein I had laboured under the sun.

²¹For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skilfulness; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

²²For what hath a man of all his labour, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he laboureth under the sun?

²³For all his days are but sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity.