1. There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon humankind:
2. There is one to whom God gives riches and property and honor, and who lacks nothing the heart could desire; yet God does not grant the power to partake of them, but a stranger devours them. This is vanity and a dire plague.
3. Should one have a hundred children and live many years, no matter to what great age, still if one has not the full benefit of those goods, I proclaim that the child born dead, even if left unburied, is more fortunate.
4. Though it came in vain and goes into darkness and its name is enveloped in darkness,
5. though it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet the dead child has more peace.