Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind---of no use at all.

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.

"Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.

For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth.

But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free.

Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side.

But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this world.

How can anyone discover what life means? It is too deep for us, too hard to understand.

I found something more bitter than death---the woman who is like a trap. The love she offers you will catch you like a net, and her arms around you will hold you like a chain. A man who pleases God can get away, but she will catch the sinner.

Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too---and a miserable way to live.

If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.

The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich.

My soul will feast and be satisfied, and I will sing glad songs of praise to you.

Human desires are like the world of the dead---there is always room for more.

A leech has two daughters, and both are named "Give me!" There are four things that are never satisfied:

the world of the dead, a woman without children, dry ground that needs rain, and a fire burning out of control.

"Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully!

Never again will they hunger or thirst; neither sun nor any scorching heat will burn them,

because the Lamb, who is in the center of the throne, will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."