Ecclesiastes 2:17-23

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.