Wealth Is Not the Goal of Life

1There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil [a]affliction.

3If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a [b]stillborn child is better than he— 4for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 5Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, 6even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?

12For who knows what is good for man in life, [e]all the days of his [f]vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?