14. The chacham (wise man) hath eyes in his rosh; but the kesil (fool) walketh in choshech; but I myself perceived also that the same mikreh (fortune) happeneth to them all.
15. Then said I in my lev, As the mikreh befalls the kesil, so also will the same mikreh befall me; and wherein have I then been of more chochmah? Then I said in my lev, This also is hevel.
16. For no zichron (remembrance) of the chacham---no less the kesil--remains l'olam; seeing that in hayamim haba'im (the days to come) all shall be forgotten. How can the chacham die just like the kesil?
17. Therefore I hated HaChayyim (Life); because the ma'aseh that is wrought under the shemesh is grievous unto me; for all is hevel and chasing after ruach.
18. Yea, I hated all my amal for which I had toiled under the shemesh; because I must leave it unto the adam that shall occupy my place after me.
19. And who hath da'as whether he shall be a chacham or a kesil? Nevertheless shall he have shlitah (control, authority) over all my amal for which I have toiled, and have poured out my chochmah under the shemesh. This also is hevel.
20. Therefore I turned aside to give up my lev to despair over all the wearisome amal with which I toiled under the shemesh.
21. For there is an adam whose amal is with chochmah, and da'as, and kishron (skill); yet to an adam that hath not worked for it he must leave it for his chelek. This also is hevel and a ra'ah rabbah.
22. For what hath adam for all his amal, and for all the striving of his lev, wherein he hath labored under the shemesh?
23. For all his yamim are machovim (sorrows), and his travail ka'as (grief, vexation); yea, his lev taketh not rest balailah. This also is hevel.
24. There is nothing better for adam, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his nefesh find satisfaction in his amal. Also this I saw; even this was from the Yad HaElohim.