The Futility of Labor

¹⁸ So I hated all the fruit (gain) of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will succeed me.^{(A) 19} And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity (futility, self-conceit).

³¹ and those who use the world [taking advantage of its opportunities], as though they did not make full use of it. For the outward form of this world [its present social and material nature] is passing away.

^14 [a]Yet you do not know [the least thing] ^[b]about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air].