1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:

2A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him not power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil affliction.

3If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also that he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn birth is better than he.

4For he comes in with vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

5Moreover he has not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this one has more rest than the other.

6Yea, though he lives a thousand years twice over, yet he has seen no good: do not all go to one place?

7All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

8For what has the wise more than the fool? what has the poor, who knows to walk before the living?

9Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and grasping after the wind.

10Whatever has been is named already, and it is known that this is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

11Since there are many things that increase vanity, how is man the better?

12For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?