⁷ There, in the presence^(A) of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice^(B) in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink,^(A) and find satisfaction^(B) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.^{(C) 14} I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.^(D)

¹⁶ And I saw something else under the sun:

¹⁷ I said to myself,

¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.^{(I) 19} Surely the fate of human beings^(J) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[b]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.^{(K) 21} Who knows if the human spirit rises upward^(L) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²² So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,^(M) because that is their lot.^(N) For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

¹⁸ This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink^(A) and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor^(B) under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. ¹⁹ Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions,^(C) and the ability to enjoy them,^(D) to accept their lot^(E) and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God.^{(F) 20} They seldom reflect on the days of their life, because God keeps them occupied with gladness of heart.^(G)