So I commended the dead,(A) who have already died, more than the living, who are still alive. But better than either of them is the one who has not yet existed,(B) who has not seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

The Loneliness of Wealth

I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to one person’s jealousy of another.(C) This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.[a](D)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 4:4 Or a feeding on wind, or an affliction of spirit; also in vv. 6,16

And I declared that the dead,(A)
    who had already died,
are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.(B)
But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,(C)
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.(D)

And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(E)

Read full chapter