12 So I turned to consider wisdom and ^hmadness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? ⁱOnly what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in ^jwisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. ^kAnd yet I perceived that ^lthe same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring ^mremembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How ⁿthe wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

18 I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^oleave it to the man who will come after me, 19 and 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. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because 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. 22 What has a man from all the ^ptoil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For ^qall his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

24 ^rThere is nothing better for a person than that he should ^seat and drink and find enjoyment¹ in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him² who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, ^tonly to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.