Ecclesiastes 2:19-26

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.

²⁵For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

²⁶For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.