Let him not trust in what is worthless, ¹  deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. ² 

Take note of my brief lifespan! ¹  Why do you make all people so mortal? ² 

Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished ¹  and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, ²  I concluded: ³  “All these ⁴  achievements and possessions ⁵  are ultimately ⁶  profitless ⁷  – like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained ⁸  from them ⁹  on earth.”

Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet ¹  he will be master over all the fruit of ²  my labor ³  for which I worked so wisely ⁴  on earth! ⁵  This also is futile!

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; however, he must hand over ¹  the fruit of his labor ²  as an inheritance ³  to someone else who did not work for it. This also is futile, and an awful injustice! ⁴ 

For the fate of humans ¹  and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.

They conceive ¹  trouble and bring forth evil; their belly ²  prepares deception.”

If ¹  I have walked in falsehood, and if ²  my foot has hastened ³  to deceit –

People ¹  are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears. ² 

So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness ¹  will be many – all that is about to come is obscure. ² 

For to the one who pleases him, ¹  God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner, he gives the task of amassing ²  wealth ³  – only to give ⁴  it ⁵  to the one who pleases God. This ⁶  task of the wicked ⁷  is futile – like chasing the wind!

A man who is all alone with no companion, ¹  he has no children nor siblings; ²  yet there is no end to all his toil, and he ³  is never satisfied with riches. He laments, ⁴  “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself ⁵  of pleasure?” ⁶  This also is futile and a burdensome task! ⁷ 

God gives a man riches, property, and wealth so that he lacks nothing that his heart ¹  desires, ²  yet God does not enable ³  him to enjoy ⁴  the fruit of his labor ⁵  – instead, someone else ⁶  enjoys ⁷  it! ⁸  This is fruitless and a grave misfortune. ⁹ 

thus ¹  I have been made to inherit ²  months of futility, ³  and nights of sorrow ⁴  have been appointed ⁵  to me.

Surely it is an empty cry ¹  – God does not hear it; the Almighty does not take notice of it.

His mouth is full of curses and deceptive, harmful words; ¹  his tongue injures and destroys. ² 

The one who sows ¹  iniquity will reap trouble, and the rod of his fury ²  will end.

Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, ¹  who pull sin as with cart ropes. ² 

Ephraim will be oppressed, ¹  crushed ²  under judgment, ³  because he was determined to pursue worthless idols. ⁴ 

Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. ¹  When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. ²