[5:8] Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by someone higher, and both are protected by still higher officials.
[5:9] Even a king depends on the harvest.
[5:10] If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.
[5:11] The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich.
[5:12] Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.
[5:13] Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it,
[5:14] and then lose it all in some bad deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children.
[5:15] We leave this world just as we entered it—with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us.
[5:16] It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get?
[5:17] We get to live our lives in darkness and grief, worried, angry, and sick.
[5:18] Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate.
[5:19] If God gives us wealth and property and lets us enjoy them, we should be grateful and enjoy what we have worked for. It is a gift from God.
[5:20] Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.
[6:1] I have noticed that in this world a serious injustice is done.
[6:2] God will give us wealth, honor, and property, yes, everything we want, but then will not let us enjoy it. Some stranger will enjoy it instead. It is useless, and it just isn't right.
[6:3] We may have a hundred children and live a long time, but no matter how long we live, if we do not get our share of happiness and do not receive a decent burial, then I say that a baby born dead is better off.
[6:4] It does that baby no good to be born; it disappears into darkness, where it is forgotten.
[6:5] It never sees the light of day or knows what life is like, but at least it has found rest—
[6:6] more so than the man who never enjoys life, though he may live two thousand years. After all, both of them are going to the same place.
[6:7] We do all our work just to get something to eat, but we never have enough.
[6:8] How are the wise better off than fools? What good does it do the poor to know how to face life?
[6:9] It is useless; it is like chasing the wind. It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else.
[6:10] Everything that happens was already determined long ago, and we all know that you cannot argue with someone who is stronger than you.
[6:11] The longer you argue, the more useless it is, and you are no better off.
[6:12] How can anyone know what is best for us in this short, useless life of ours—a life that passes like a shadow? How can we know what will happen in the world after we die?