Ecclesiastes 2:14-24

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

¹⁵Then I said in my heart, “As it happens 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 is vanity.

¹⁶For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

¹⁸I hated all my labour in which I laboured under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

¹⁹Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labour in which I have laboured, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

²⁰Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour in which I had laboured under the sun.

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

²²For what does a man have of all his labour and of the striving of his heart, in which he labours under the sun?

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

²⁴There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.