1 Here is another misfortune that I have seen under the sun, and it is prevalent among humankind.
2 God gives a man wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; yet God does not enable him to enjoy it—instead someone else ends up enjoying it. This is vanity—indeed, it is a grievous ill!
3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, if his heart is not satisfied with his prosperity and he does not receive a proper burial, I deem the stillborn better than him.
4 For he comes into vanity and departs into darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness.
5 He has neither seen nor known the sun, yet he has more rest than him.
6 Even if a man lives a thousand years twice, if he does not enjoy prosperity, both suffer the same fate!
7 All of a man’s toil is for his mouth— yet his appetite is never satisfied.