gain I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—
and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
and they have no comforter.

And I declared that the dead,
who had already died,
are happier than the living, who are still alive.

But better than both is he who has not yet been,
who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.

And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

The fool folds his hands and ruins himself.
Better one handful with tranquillity
than two handfuls with toil
and chasing after the wind.

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