8. I amassed for me also kesef and zahav, and the treasure of melachim and of the provinces; I acquired for me men singers and women singers, and the delights of bnei haAdam, musical instruments of all kinds.
9. So I was great, and excelled more than all that were before me in Yerushalayim; also my chochmah remained with me.
10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my lev from any simchah; for my lev rejoiced in all my amal (labor); and this was my chelek (portion) for all my amal.
11. Then I looked on kol ma'asim that my hands had wrought, and on the amal that I had labored to do; and, hinei, all was hevel and chasing after ruach, and there was no profit under the shemesh.
12. And I turned myself to consider chochmah, and holelot, and sichlut; for what can the adam do who cometh after HaMelech? Even that which hath been done already.
13. Then I saw that chochmah excelleth sichlut, as far as ohr excelleth choshech.
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.