¹⁸I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.^u ¹⁹And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^v Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. ²⁰So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²²What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^w ²³All their days their work is grief and pain;^x even at night their minds do not rest.^y This too is meaningless.

²⁴A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^z and find satisfaction in their own toil.^a This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^b ²⁵for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?^c ²⁶To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^d knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^e to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^f This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

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Cross references

u Ps 39:6; 49:10
vSee ver 15
wSee Ecc 1:3
xSee Ecc 1:18
ySee Ge 3:17; See Job 7:2
zver 3; 1 Co 15:32
aSee ver 1; Ecc 3:22
bSee Job 2:10; Ecc 3:12–13; 5:17–19; 7:14; 9:7–10; 11:7–10
cSee Ps 127:2
dSee Job 9:4
eSee Job 27:17
fSee Pr 13:22