12. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.
13. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
14. And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.
15. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.
16. I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt!
17. I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”
18. I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals.
19. For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless!