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

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

In other versions

NIVNew International Version (2011)

A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him? For to the person who is pleasing in his sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

NLTNew Living Translation

So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and find delight in his toil. For I also realized that this is from the hand of God! For who can eat, and who can enjoy life apart from him? For to the person who is good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give it to him who is pleasing in the eyes of God. This also is vanity and chasing wind!

KJV 1900King James Version

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I? For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

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