2:11 Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished
and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it,
I concluded: “All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless –
like chasing the wind!
There is nothing gained from them on earth.”
2:15 So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me!
Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively wise?”
So I lamented to myself,
“The benefits of wisdom are ultimately meaningless!”
2:17 So I loathed life because what
happens on earth seems awful to me;
for all the benefits of wisdom are futile – like chasing the wind.
2:19 Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool?
Yet he will be master over all the fruit of my labor
for which I worked so wisely on earth!
This also is futile!
2:21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill;
however, he must hand over the fruit of his labor as an inheritance
to someone else who did not work for it.
This also is futile, and an awful injustice!
2:23 For all day long his work produces pain and frustration,
and even at night his mind cannot relax!
This also is futile!
2:26 For to the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy,
but to the sinner, he gives the task of amassing wealth –
only to give it to the one who pleases God.
This task of the wicked is futile – like chasing the wind!