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15 Then I said in my heart,

“What happens to the fool will happen to me also.
    So to what advantage is my wisdom?”
Then I said to myself,
    “This also is vanity.”
16 For there is no lasting memory for the wise or the fool,
    by which in the coming days everyone will be forgotten.
How the wise dies just like the fool!

17 And I began to hate life for the labor that was done under the sun was contemptible to me, for all of this was vanity and 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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