1 There is a misery that I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon humanity.
2 God gives a man riches, wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing that his heart desires, yet God does not enable him to eat from it—instead a foreigner will eat it. This is fruitless—an agonizing illness.
3 Even if a man should father a hundred children and live many years, however many the days of his years may be, yet his soul is never satisfied with his prosperity and he does not have a proper burial, then I say that it is better for the stillborn than him.
4 Even though it comes in futility and departs into darkness, though its name is shrouded in darkness,
5 though it has never seen or experienced the sun, it has more rest than the other.
6 Even if the other man were to live a thousand years twice and never enjoy good things—do not all go to the same place?
7 All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.