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15 I thought to myself,
“What happens to a foolish person will happen to me, too.
    So what do I get for being so wise?”
I said to myself,
    “Being wise is also useless.”
16 The wise man and the foolish person
    will both die!
People will not remember either one forever.
    In the future, both will be forgotten.

Is There Real Happiness in Life?

17 So I hated life. It made me sad to think that everything here on earth is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

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15 Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”(A)
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;(B)
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.(C)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!(D)

Toil Is Meaningless

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(E)

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