Translation
I looked on all the works my hands had done and the
toilsome toil which I carried out, and indeed all was like a vapor,
Go to footnote numberlike trying to catch the wind; there was no profit under the sun.
Paraphrase
When I looked back and evaluated what I had accomplished, and the price paid for it in the form of irksome work endured and great effort expended, I realized that all of it was like a vapor, like trying to catch the wind;
there was no lasting profit gained here on earth.
Footnotes
1
“Like a Vapor” this time refers to A: Accomplished nothing, S: Short lived, not lasting, S: not Solid or firm.