1. All this I took to my lev, explaining it all, that the tzaddikim, and the chachamim, and their works, are in the yad HaElohim; adam does not have da'as of whether it will be ahavah or sinah; all lies before him.
2. All things come alike to all; there is one mikreh (fortune) to the tzaddik, and to the rasha; to the tov and to the tahor, and to the tameh; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the tov, so is the choteh; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth a shevuah (an oath).
3. This is a rah among all things that are done under the shemesh, that there is one mikreh (fortune) unto all; yea, also the lev of the bnei haAdam is full of rah, and holelot (madness) is in their lev while they live, and after that they go to the mesim.
4. For to him that is joined to all the living there is bitachon; for a kelev chai (living dog) is better than an aryeh hamet (dead lion).
5. For the living have da'as that they shall die; but the mesim do not have da'as of anything, neither have they any more a sachar, for the memory of them is forgotten.
6. Also their ahavah, and their sinah, and their kina, is now perished; neither have they any more a chelek l'olam in any thing that is done under the shemesh.