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1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavy on men.
2 God might give riches, wealth, and honor to a man so that he lacks nothing that he desires for himself, but then God gives him no ability to enjoy it. Instead, someone else uses his things. This is meaningless and a terrible affliction.
3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but if his heart is not satisfied with good and he is not buried, then I say that a baby that is born dead is better off than he is.
4 Such a baby is born without meaning and passes away in darkness, and its name is covered in darkness.
5 Although this child does not see the sun or know anything, it has rest even though that man did not.
6 Even if a man should live for two thousand years but does not learn to enjoy good things, he goes to the same place as everyone else.
7 All a man's labor is for his mouth,2 yet his appetite is not satisfied.
8 Indeed, what advantage has the wise person over the fool?2 What advantage does the poor man have3 even if he knows how to act in front of other people?
9 What the eye sees is better than what the soul wanders after. This also is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
10 Whatever has existed has already been given its name, and what mankind is like has already been known. So it has become useless for a man to dispute with the one who is stronger than he is.
11 The more words there are, the more meaningless they become. What advantage is that to a man?
12 For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days he passes through like a shadow? Who can tell a person what will happen under the sun after he is gone?