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

2 a man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it. This [is] vanity, and it [is] an evil disease.

3 If a man fathers a hundred, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, and his soul is not filled with good, and also is for him no burial; I say, a miscarriage [is] better than he.

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

5 Also he has not seen the sun, nor known [anything]. This one has more rest than the other.

6 Yea, though he live twice a thousand years, yet he has seen no good. Do not all go to one place?

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

8 For what [has] the wise more than the fool? What [gain has] the poor who knows [how] to walk before the living?

9 Better [is] the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit.

10 That which has been [is] named already, and it is known that he [is] man. And he is not able to contend with Him who is mightier than he.

11 For there are many things that increase vanity, [and] what [is] man the better?

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