1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men.

2 God has given man riches, wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires. Yet God has not empowered him to partake of them for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction.

3 A man can have a hundred children and live many years. If he does not enjoy prosperity and have a decent burial, a stillborn child is better off then he.

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

5 »Moreover he has not seen the sun nor known anything. The stillborn child has more rest than the other.

6 »Even though he lives a thousand years twice over, 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 satisfied.

8 What does the wise have more than the fool? What does the poor have knowing how to walk before man?

9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering after the desire. This is also vanity and a striving after wind.

10 That which exists is named already. It is known and he cannot dispute with the one that is mightier than he.

11 Seeing there is much that increases futility, what outcome is there for man?

12 Who knows what is good for man in this life? Are all the days of his vain life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after his existence under the sun?