12 I decided to think about wisdom. I also thought about foolish pleasure. What more can a new king do? Can he do anything more than others have already done?
13 I saw that wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.
14 The eyes of a wise man see things clearly. A person who is foolish lives in darkness. But I finally realized that death catches up with both of them.
15 Then I thought, "What happens to a foolish person will catch up with me too. So what do I gain by being wise?" I said to myself, "That doesn't have any meaning either."
16 Like a foolish person, a wise man won't be remembered very long. In days to come, both of them will be forgotten. Like a person who is foolish, a wise man must die too!
17 So I hated life. That's because the work that is done on this earth made me sad. None of it has any meaning. It's like chasing the wind.
18 I hated everything I had worked for on earth. I'll have to leave all of it to someone who lives after me.