² So I praised and thought more fortunate those who have been long dead than the living, who are still alive.

³ But better than them both [I thought] is he who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

⁴ Then I saw that all painful effort in labor and all skill in work comes from man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This is also vanity, a vain striving after the wind and a feeding on it.