Study Desk

So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should enjoy his work, for that is his lot; who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

The fool folds his hands, and eats his own flesh.

a person who has no one, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, "For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?" This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up.

even though he had gone from prison to the throne or in his own kingdom had been born poor.

I saw all the living who move about under the sun, as well as that youth, who was to stand in his place;

When goods increase, they increase who eat them; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt,

and those riches were lost in a bad venture; and he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.

As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil, which he may carry away in his hand.

and spent all his days in darkness and grief, in much vexation and sickness and resentment?

Behold, what I have seen to be good and to be fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life which God has given him, for this is his lot.

Every man also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and find enjoyment in his toil--this is the gift of God.

For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but he does not enjoy life's good things, and also has no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better off than he.

All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.

For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

In my vain life I have seen everything; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil-doing.

Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his countenance is changed.