Ecclesiastes 2
1 I said in my heart: “I will go forth and overflow with delights, and I will enjoy good things.” And I saw that this, too, is emptiness.
I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with happiness. So enjoy pleasure.” But look, this also was just a temporary breeze.
2 Laughter, I considered an error. And to rejoicing, I said: “Why are you being deceived, to no purpose?”
I said about laughter, “It is crazy,” and about pleasure, “What use is it?”
3 I decided in my heart to withdraw my flesh from wine, so that I might bring my mind to wisdom, and turn away from foolishness, until I see what is useful for the sons of men, and what they ought to do under the sun, during the number of the days of their life.
I explored in my heart how to gratify my desires with wine. I let my mind guide me with wisdom although I was still holding on to folly. I wanted to find out what is good for people to do under heaven during the days of their lives.
4 I magnified my works. I built houses for myself, and I planted vineyards.
I accomplished great things. I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
5 I made gardens and orchards. And I planted them with trees of every kind.
I built for myself gardens and parks; I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
6 And I dug out fishponds of water, so that I might irrigate the forest of growing trees.
I created pools of water to water a forest where trees were grown.
7 I obtained men and women servants, and I had a great family, as well as herds of cattle and great flocks of sheep, beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem.
I purchased male slaves and female slaves; I had slaves born in my palace. I also had large herds and flocks of livestock, much more than any king who ruled before me in Jerusalem.
8 I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and governors. I chose men and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, bowls and pitchers for the purpose of pouring wine.
I also accumulated for myself silver and gold, the treasures of kings and provinces. I got male and female singers for myself—the delights of the children of humanity—and many concubines.
9 And I surpassed in opulence all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also persevered with me.
So I became greater and wealthier than all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my wisdom remained with me.
10 And all that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. Neither did I prohibit my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and from amusing itself in the things that I had prepared. And I regarded this as my share, as if I were making use of my own labors.
Whatever my eyes desired, I did not withhold from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, because my heart rejoiced in all my labor and pleasure was my reward for all my work.
11 But when I turned myself toward all the works that my hands had made, and to the labors in which I had perspired to no purpose, I saw emptiness and affliction of the soul in all things, and that nothing is permanent under the sun.
Then I looked on all the deeds that my hands had accomplished, and on the work that I had done, but again, everything was vapor and an attempt to shepherd the wind. There was no profit under the sun in it.
12 I continued on, so as to contemplate wisdom, as well as error and foolishness. “What is man,” I said, “that he would be able to follow his Maker, the King?”
Then I turned to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. For what can the next king do who comes after the king, which has not already been done?
13 And I saw that wisdom surpasses foolishness, so much so that they differ as much as light from darkness.
Then I began to understand that wisdom has advantages over folly, just as light is better than darkness.
14 The eyes of a wise man are in his head. A foolish man walks in darkness. Yet I learned that one would pass away like the other.
The wise man uses his eyes in his head to see where he is going, but the fool walks in darkness, although I know the same event happens to all of them.
15 And I said in my heart: “If the death of both the foolish and myself will be one, how does it benefit me, if I have given myself more thoroughly to the work of wisdom?” And as I was speaking within my own mind, I perceived that this, too, is emptiness.
Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool, will also happen to me. So what difference does it make if I am very wise?” I concluded in my heart, “This too is only vapor.”
16 For there will not be a remembrance in perpetuity of the wise, nor of the foolish. And the future times will cover everything together, with oblivion. The learned die in a manner similar to the unlearned.
For the wise man, like the fool, is not remembered for very long. In the days to come everything will have been long forgotten. The wise man dies just like the fool dies.
17 And, because of this, my life wearied me, since I saw that everything under the sun is evil, and everything is empty and an affliction of the spirit.
So I detested life because all the work done under the sun was evil to me. This was because everything is vapor and an attempt to shepherd the wind.
18 Again, I detested all my efforts, by which I had earnestly labored under the sun, to be taken up by an heir after me,
I hated all my accomplishments for which I had worked under the sun because I must leave them behind to the man who comes after me.
19 though I know not whether he will be wise or foolish. And yet he will have power over my labors, in which I have toiled and been anxious. And is there anything else so empty?
For who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master over everything under the sun that my work and wisdom have built. This also is vapor.
20 Therefore, I ceased, and my heart renounced further laboring under the sun.
Therefore my heart began to despair over all the work under the sun that I did.
21 For when someone labors in wisdom, and doctrine, and prudence, he leaves behind what he has obtained to one who is idle. So this, too, is emptiness and a great burden.
For there might be someone who works with wisdom, with knowledge, and skill, but he will leave everything he has to a man who has not made any of it. This also is vapor and a great tragedy.
22 For how can a man benefit from all his labor and affliction of spirit, by which he has been tormented under the sun?
For what profit does the person gain who works so hard and tries in his heart to complete his labors under the sun?
23 All his days have been filled with sorrows and hardships; neither does he rest his mind, even in the night. And is this not emptiness?
Every day his work is painful and stressful, so at night his soul does not find rest. This also is vapor.
24 Is it not better to eat and drink, and to show his soul the good things of his labors? And this is from the hand of God.
There is nothing better for anyone than to simply eat and drink and be satisfied with what is good in his work. I saw that this truth comes from God's hand.
25 So who will feast and overflow with delights as much as I have?
For who can eat or who can have any kind of pleasure apart from God?
26 God has given, to the man who is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and rejoicing. But to the sinner, he has given affliction and needless worrying, so as to add, and to gather, and to deliver, to him who has pleased God. But this, too, is emptiness and a hollow worrying of the mind.
For to anyone who pleases him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy. However, to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and storing up so that he may give it away to someone who pleases God. This also amounts to vapor and an attempt to shepherd the wind.
