⁶ as well as Baalath^(A) and all his store cities, and all the cities for his chariots and for his horses^[a]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹⁵ Then I said to myself,

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷ So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^{(L) 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.^{(M) 19} And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(N) 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 my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 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 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^{(O) 23} All their days their work is grief and pain;^(P) even at night their minds do not rest.^(Q) This too is meaningless.

²⁴ A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^(R) and find satisfaction in their own toil.^(S) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^{(T) 25} for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?^{(U) 26} To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^(V) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^(W) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^(X) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself^(A) and planted vineyards.^(B)

¹² Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful; he built forts and store cities in Judah

⁴ He also built up Tadmor in the desert and all the store cities he had built in Hamath.^(A)

¹⁴ Solomon accumulated chariots^(A) and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,^[a] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

²⁶ Solomon accumulated chariots and horses;^(A) he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses,^[a] which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

¹⁸ Baalath,^(A) and Tadmor^[a] in the desert, within his land, ¹⁹ as well as all his store cities^(B) and the towns for his chariots^(C) and for his horses^[b]—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

² He built the Palace^(A) of the Forest of Lebanon^(B) a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high,^[a] with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams.