Good News Translation GNT
New International Version NIV
18 Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor,
18
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
19 and he might be wise, or he might be foolish - who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless.
19
And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
20 So I came to regret that I had worked so hard.
20
So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
21 You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right!
21
For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
22 You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it?
22
What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?
23 As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless.
23
All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
24 The best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God.
24
A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
25 How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all?
25
for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.
26
To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.