1. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is great among men:
2. a man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
3. If a man fathers a hundred, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also is for him no burial; I say, a miscarriage is better than he.
4. For he comes in with vanity and goes out in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.
5. Also he has not seen the sun, nor known anything. This one has more rest than the other.
6. Yea, though he live twice a thousand years, yet he has seen no good. Do not all go to one place?
7. All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
8. For what has the wise more than the fool? What gain has the poor who knows how to walk before the living?
9. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
10. That which has been is named already, and it is known that he is man. And he is not able to contend with Him who is mightier than he.
11. For there are many things that increase vanity, and what is man the better?
12. For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?