¹⁶ Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is ^(A)wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. ¹⁷ I said ^[a]to myself, “^(B)God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a ^(C)time for every ^[b]matter and for every deed is there. ¹⁸ I said ^[c]to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but ^(D)beasts.” ^19 (E)For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts ^[d]is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is ^[e]vanity. ²⁰ All go to the same place. All came from the ^(F)dust and all return to the dust. ²¹ Who knows that the ^(G)breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? ²² I have seen that ^(H)nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see ^(I)what will occur after him?

The Evils of Oppression

4 Then I looked again at all the acts of ^(J)oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had ^(K)no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. ² So ^(L)I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. ³ But ^(M)better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.

The Whole Creation Invoked to Praise the Lord.

¹³ And ^(A)every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,