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I have seen another terrible thing that happens on the earth. It causes people to have a lot of trouble. God may give someone lots of money and valuable things. People also respect that person. He has everything that he wants. He has worked hard to get them. But God does not allow him to enjoy those things. Instead, a stranger enjoys all that person's things. This has no purpose. It is a terrible thing to happen to someone.

Someone may have many children and he may live for a long time. But even if he lives until he is very old, he may not enjoy a good life. After he dies, people may not bury him with honour. His life would be useless. Even a child that is dead at birth is happier than that person. That is what I think. The child's birth has no purpose. He immediately goes to a dark place. Nobody ever speaks his name. He never sees the light of day. He never knows anything. But he enjoys more rest than that rich person. A rich person might live for 2,000 years. But if he never enjoys his riches, it would be better if he died at birth. Remember that after death, we all go into our graves.

The reason people work so hard is to get food.
    But they never have enough to eat.
Does a wise person have a better life than a foolish person?
    No, he does not!
Does it help a poor person if he knows how to live well?
    No!
It is good to enjoy the things that we have.
    That is better than to want more things all the time.
If you always try to get more things, that has no purpose.
    It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.

10 Everything that is here today already has its name.
    Everyone knows what we humans are like.
It is useless to argue with someone who is more powerful than we are.
11 If we talk too much,
    we will say silly things.
So it will not help anyone to talk with many words.
12 Nobody knows the best way for us to live our lives.
We live for only a few years
    and our lives seem to have no purpose.
Our lives quickly disappear, like a shadow.
    Nobody can tell us what will happen on the earth after our death.

I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them,(A) and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.(B)

A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn(C) child is better off than he.(D) It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?(E)

Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
    yet their appetite is never satisfied.(F)
What advantage have the wise over fools?(G)
What do the poor gain
    by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind.(H)

10 Whatever exists has already been named,(I)
    and what humanity is has been known;
no one can contend
    with someone who is stronger.
11 The more the words,
    the less the meaning,
    and how does that profit anyone?

12 For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days(J) they pass through like a shadow?(K) Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?