9 So I became great and dsurpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ereward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a fstriving after wind, and there was nothing to be ggained under the sun.
13 This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
yet after them people approve of their boasts.1 Selah
14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
15 But God will gransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will hreceive me. Selah
16 iBe not afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
17 For when he dies jhe will carry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
18 For though, while he lives, khe counts himself blessed—
and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
who will never again see llight.
20 Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all icovetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, j“Soul, you have ample goods laid up kfor many years; relax, leat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, m‘Fool! nThis night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, owhose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up ptreasure for himself and is not qrich toward God.”
