6I have seen something else wrong here on earth that causes serious problems for people. ²God gives great wealth, riches, and honor to some people; they have everything they want. But God does not let them enjoy such things; a stranger enjoys them instead. This is useless and very wrong. ³A man might have a hundred children and live a long time, but what good is it if he can’t enjoy the good God gives him or have a proper burial? I say a baby born dead is better off than he is. ⁴A baby born dead is useless. It returns to darkness without even a name. ⁵That baby never saw the sun and never knew anything, but it finds more rest than that man. ⁶Even if he lives two thousand years, he doesn’t enjoy the good God gives him. Everyone is going to the same place.

⁷People work just to feed themselves,

but they never seem to get enough to eat.

⁸In this way a wise person

is no better off than a fool.

Then, too, it does a poor person little good

to know how to get along in life.

⁹It is better to see what you have

than to want more.

Wanting more is useless—

like chasing the wind.

Who Can Understand God’s Plan?

¹⁰Whatever happens was planned long ago.

Everyone knows what people are like.

No one can argue with God,

who is stronger than anyone.

¹¹The more you say,

the more useless it is.

What good does it do?

¹²People have only a few useless days of life on the earth; their short life passes like a shadow. Who knows what is best for them while they live? Who can tell them what the future will bring?

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