Study Desk

So I turned to ^(C1)consider wisdom, insanity, and foolishness; for what will the man do who will come after the king, except ^(C2)what has already been done?

Then I saw that ^(C1)wisdom surpasses foolishness as light surpasses darkness.

The wise person's eyes are in his head, but the ^(C1)fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that ^(C2)one and the same fate happens to ^(F1)both of them.

Then I said ^(F1)to myself, "^(C1)As is the fate of the fool, it will also happen to me. ^(C2)Why then have I been extremely wise?" So ^(F2)I said to myself, "This too is futility."

For there is ^(C1)no ^(F1)lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will ^(F2)soon be forgotten. And ^(C2)how the wise and the fool alike die!

So I ^(C1)hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was ^(F1)unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

So I hated ^(C1)all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must ^(C2)leave it to the man who will come after me.

And who knows whether he will be wise or ^(C1)a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is ^(C2)futility.

Therefore I ^(F1)completely despaired over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

When there is a person who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and ^(C1)skill, and then ^(C2)gives his ^(F1)legacy to one who has not labored for it; this too is futility and a great evil.

For what does a person get in ^(C1)all his labor and in ^(F1)his striving with which he labors under the sun?

Because all his days his activity is painful and ^(C1)irritating; even at night his ^(F1)mind ^(C2)does not rest. This too is futility.