No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die---wise and foolish alike.

Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor,

So I came to regret that I had worked so hard.

I thought long and hard about all this and saw that God controls the actions of wise and righteous people, even their love and their hate. No one knows anything about what lies ahead.

It makes no difference. The same fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the bad, to those who are religious and those who are not, to those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. A good person is no better off than a sinner; one who takes an oath is no better off than one who does not.

Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned.

But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, death ruled over all human beings, even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam did when he disobeyed God's command. Adam was a figure of the one who was to come.

Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.

I was as stupid as an animal; I did not understand you.

This is something a fool cannot know; someone who is stupid cannot understand:

the wicked may grow like weeds, those who do wrong may prosper; yet they will be totally destroyed,

My people, how can you be such stupid fools? When will you ever learn?

Any who love knowledge want to be told when they are wrong. It is stupid to hate being corrected.

I am more like an animal than a human being; I do not have the sense we humans should have.

All of them are stupid and foolish. What can they learn from wooden idols?

he cannot take it with him when he dies; his wealth will not go with him to the grave.

save me from those who in this life have all they want. Punish them with the sufferings you have stored up for them; may there be enough for their children and some left over for their children's children!

no more than a shadow. All we do is for nothing; we gather wealth, but don't know who will get it.

Riches will do you no good on the day you face death, but honesty can save your life.

Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor,

and he might be wise, or he might be foolish---who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless.

You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right!

God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.

Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it,

We leave this world just as we entered it---with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us.

The person who gets money dishonestly is like a bird that hatches eggs it didn't lay. In the prime of life he will lose his riches, and in the end he is nothing but a fool.

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself ? ' "

Well, religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have.

So then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us.

For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.