10 Anything I saw and wanted, I got for myself.I did not miss any pleasure I desired.I was pleased with everything I did.And this pleasure was the reward for all my hard work.
11 But then I looked at what I had done.I thought about all the hard work.Suddenly I realized it was just a waste of time, like chasing the wind!There is nothing to gain from anything we do here on earth.
12 Then I began to think again about being wise.And I thought also about being foolish and doing crazy things.But after all, what more can any king do?He can only do what some other king has already done.
13 I saw that being wise is certainly better than being foolish,just as light is better than darkness.
14 A wise man sees where he is going.But a foolish person is like someone walking around in the dark.Yet I saw thatboth the foolish person and the wise man end the same way.
15 I thought to myself,“What happens to a foolish person will happen to me, too.So what do I get for being so wise?”I said to myself,“Being wise is also useless.”
16 The wise man and the foolish personwill both die!People will not remember either one forever.In the future, both will be forgotten.