¹⁸I hated ^yall my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^zleave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰So I ^aturned about and gave my heart up to despair ^bover all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²What has a man from ^call the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³For ^dall his days are full of sorrow, and his ^ework is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴^fThere is nothing better for a person than that he should ^geat and drink and find enjoyment³ in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^hfrom the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him⁴ who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him ⁱGod has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^ethe business of gathering and collecting, ^jonly to give to one who pleases God. ^kThis also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Footnotes

3Or and make his soul see good
4Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me

Cross references

ych. 1:3
z Ps. 39:6; 49:10
ach. 7:25
bch. 1:3
cSee ch. 1:3
d Job 5:7; 14:1
eSee ch. 1:13
fch. 3:12, 13, 22; 5:18; 8:15; [1 Tim. 6:17]
g[ch. 9:7; Luke 12:19; 1 Cor. 15:32]
h[ch. 3:13; 5:19]
i Job 32:8
e[See ver. 7 above]
j[Job 27:16, 17; Prov. 13:22]
kSee ch. 1:14