And we cried to Yahweh, the God of our ancestors, and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression.

Returning [the] products of [his] toil, he will not swallow; according to the profit of his trade, {he will not enjoy},

[It is] in vain for you who rise early [and] sit late, eating the bread of anxious toil, [when] thus he provides for his beloved in [his] sleep.

In all toil, there is profit, but the {talk} of lips [leads] only to poverty.

What does a person gain in all his toil with which he toils under the sun?

All things toil continuously; no one can ever finish describing this. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, and the ear is never filled with hearing.

I neither withheld anything from my eyes that they desired, nor did I deprive any pleasure from my heart. My heart rejoiced in all my toil, for this was my reward from all my toil.

Yet when I considered all the effort which I expended and the toil with which I toiled to do, then behold, "Everything [is] vanity and chasing wind! There is nothing profitable under the sun!"

So I hated all my toil with which I have toiled under the sun, for I must leave it behind to someone who will be after me.

And who knows [whether] he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all [the fruit of] my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also [is] vanity!

So {I began to despair} of all the toil with which I toiled under the sun.

For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.

For what does a person receive for all his toil and in the longing of his heart with which he toils under the sun?

There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and {find delight} in his toil. For I also realized that this [is] from the hand of God!

What does the worker gain in his toil?

And for anyone to eat and drink, that is, {to enjoy the fruit of all his toil}, this also is a gift of God.

I also realized that all [of the] toil and all [of] the skillful work that is done--it [is] envy between one man and {another}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Better [is] one handful with peace than two fists full with toil and chasing wind.

Sometimes a man is all alone with no companion; he also has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. [He laments,] "For whom am I toiling and depriving {myself} of pleasure?" This also [is] vanity--it is an unhappy business!

Two [are] better than the one, for they enjoy a better reward for their toil.

Just as he came from his mother's womb naked, {he will depart} just as he came; he will take nothing with him for his toil.

This also [is] a grievous illness. Exactly as he came, so he will go. What profit [does] he gain for all his toil for the wind?

Look! I have discovered what is good and fitting: to eat and to drink and {to enjoy} all [the fruit of] the toil with which one toils under the sun during the number of the days of his life that God gives to him--for this [is] his lot.

This indeed is a gift of God: everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions, he also empowers him {to enjoy them}, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in [the fruit of] his toil.

All of a man's toil [is] for his mouth-- yet his appetite is never satisfied.

So I recommend enjoyment. For there [is] nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil the days of his life that God gives to him under the sun.

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which he gives you under the sun, because this [is] your lot in life and in the toil with which you toil under the sun.

{Why} did I come out from [the] womb, to see toil, and sorrow, and [to] {end my days in shame}?

And Ephraim said, "Surely, I am rich, I gained wealth for myself; in all my toil they have not found guilt in me that is [sin].

And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe the lilies of the field, how they grow: they do not toil or spin,

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they do not toil or spin, but I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these.

and we toil, working with our own hands. [When we are] reviled, we bless; [when we are] persecuted, we endure;

with toil and hardship, often in sleepless nights, with hunger and thirst, often going hungry, in cold and poorly clothed.

nor did we eat bread from anyone without paying, but with toil and labor, [we were] working night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you,