10. Anything I saw and wanted, I got for myself.I did not miss any pleasure I desired.I was pleased with everything I did.And this pleasure was the reward for all my hard work.
11. But then I looked at what I had done.I thought about all the hard work.Suddenly I realized it was just a waste of time, like chasing the wind!There is nothing to gain from anything we do here on earth.
12. Then I began to think again about being wise.And I thought also about being foolish and doing crazy things.But after all, what more can any king do?He can only do what some other king has already done.
13. I saw that being wise is certainly better than being foolish,just as light is better than darkness.
14. A wise man sees where he is going.But a foolish person is like someone walking around in the dark.Yet I saw thatboth the foolish person and the wise man end the same way.
15. I thought to myself,“What happens to a foolish person will happen to me, too.So what do I get for being so wise?”I said to myself,“Being wise is also useless.”
16. The wise man and the foolish personwill both die!People will not remember either one forever.In the future, both will be forgotten.
17. So I hated life. It made me sad to think that everything here on earth is useless. It is like chasing the wind.
18. I hated all the things I had worked for here on earth. I hated them because I must leave them to someone who will live after me.
19. Someone else will control everything for which I worked so hard here on earth. And I don’t know if he will be wise or foolish. This is also useless.
20. So I became sad about all the hard work I had done here on earth.
21. A person can work hard using all his wisdom, knowledge and skill. But he will die, and other people will get the things he worked for. They did not do the work, but they will get everything. This is also unfair and useless.