Ecclesiastes 2:12-23

12Then I decided to think about wisdom. I also thought about foolish ways to live. I thought, ‘The next king will not do any more than I have already done.’

13I realized that it is better to be wise than foolish. In the same way, the light is better than the dark.

14Wise people can see where they are going. Foolish people walk in the dark. But at the end of their lives, there is no difference. They both die.

15Then I thought, ‘I will also die, as foolish people do. So what value have I received from my great wisdom?’ I said to myself, ‘Wisdom too has no purpose.’

16People forget about wise people as quickly as they forget about fools. One day, nobody will remember any of them. It is true! As fools all have to die, wise people will also die.

17So I hated life. Everything that happens on the earth only brings me trouble. Nothing has any purpose. It is as useless as somebody who tries to catch the wind.

18I thought about all the hard work that I have done here on the earth. When I die, all the things that I worked so hard to get will belong to the next king. So I hated all my hard work.

19The next king may be a wise man, or he may be a foolish man. Nobody knows! But all the things that I used my wisdom and hard work to get will belong to him. All this has no purpose.

20So I was very upset when I thought about all my hard work on the earth.

21Some people are very wise and clever. They use their knowledge to provide good things for themselves. But after they die, someone else will have all their things. Their good things will belong to someone who did not have to work to get them. This also has no purpose. It only brings trouble.

22People have to do a lot of hard work on this earth and it causes them to worry. But in the end, they have nothing.

23Every day, their work causes their bodies to suffer. At night, their minds do not have any rest. All this has no purpose.