10 Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward.
11 Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind — of no use at all.
12 After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done.So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.
13 Oh, I know, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise can see where they are going, and fools cannot.” But I also know that the same fate is waiting for us all.
15 I thought to myself, “I will suffer the same fate as fools. So what have I gained from being so wise?” “Nothing,” I answered, “not a thing.”
16 No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die — wise and foolish alike.