Ecclesiastes 2
1 So then I thought to myself, “Alright, let me examine pleasure and see how good that is.” But this too turned out to be something temporary that passes.
I said I in heart my come! please let me put to [the] test you with pleasure and look on good and there! also it [was] futility.
2 I conclude that laughing your way through life is stupid, and pleasure—what use is that?
Of laughter I said [it is] folly and of pleasure what? this [is it] doing.
3 Then I used my mind to examine the attraction of wine to my body. My mind still guiding me with wisdom, I took it until I acted like a fool, so that I might see whether this was good for people to do during their time here.
I searched in heart my to gratify with wine flesh my and heart my [was] guiding with wisdom and to take hold on folly until that I saw where? this [is] good for [the] children of humankind which they will do under the heavens [the] number of [the] days of lives their.
4 Then I tried great construction projects. I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself.
I made great works my I built for myself houses I planted for myself vineyards.
5 I made for myself gardens and parks, planting them with all kinds of fruit trees.
I made for myself gardens and parks and I planted in them tree[s] of every fruit.
6 I constructed for myself reservoirs to water all these growing trees.
I made for myself pools of water to water from them a forest sprouting of trees.
7 I bought male and female slaves, and their children also belonged to me. I also owned many herds and flocks, more than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
I acquired [male] slaves and female slaves and sons of house he belonged to me also livestock herd[s] and flock[s] [surely] a multitude belonged to me more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.
8 I collected for myself great quantities of silver and gold, paid to me as tribute by kings and provinces. I brought in for myself male and female singers, and enjoyed many concubines—all a man could want!
I gathered for myself also silver and gold and treasure of kings and provinces I acquired for myself male singers and female singers and [the] delights of [the] children of humankind breast and breasts.
9 I became great—greater than anyone in Jerusalem before me. All the while my wisdom stayed with me.
And I became great and I increased more than any who was before me in Jerusalem also wisdom my it remained to me.
10 I didn't stop myself trying anything I wanted. Whatever I felt like enjoying, I did. I even enjoyed everything I had accomplished, a reward for all my work.
And all that they asked eyes my not I withheld from them not I restrained heart my from any pleasure for heart my [was] joyful from all toil my and this it was reward my from all toil my.
11 But when I thought about what I had worked so hard to achieve, everything I'd done, it was so short-lived—as significant as someone trying to catch the wind. There really is no enduring benefit here on earth.
And I turned I on all works my that had done hands my and on the toil that I had toiled to do and there! everything [was] futility and striving of wind and there not [was] profit under the sun.
12 So I started to think about wisdom—and madness and foolishness. For what can anyone who comes after the king do that hasn't already been done?
And I turned I to consider wisdom and madness and folly for - what? [is] the person who will come after the king [that] which already people have done it.
13 I recognized that wisdom is better than foolishness just as light is better than darkness.
And I saw I that there [is] advantage of wisdom more than folly like [the] advantage of light more than darkness.
14 The wise see where they're going, but fools walk in darkness. But I also realized that they all come to the same end.
The wise [person] eyes his [are] in head his and the fool in darkness [is] walking and I knew also I that fate one it will happen to all of them.
15 Then I thought to myself, “If I'm going to end up the same as a fool, what's the point of being so wise?” So I thought to myself, “This is also hard to understand!”
And I said I in heart my like [the] fate of the fool also me it will happen to me and why? have I become wise I then excessively and I said in heart my that also this [is] futility.
16 Nobody remembers the wise or the fool for very long—in the future everything will be forgotten. Whether wise or foolish, they both die.
For there not [is] remembrance of the wise man with the fool for a long time in that already the days coming everything it has been forgotten and how! he will die the wise [person] with the fool.
17 So I ended up feeling disgusted with life because everything that happens here on earth is so distressing. It's so incomprehensible, like trying to control the wind.
And I hated life for [was] evil on me the work that was done under the sun for everything [is] futility and striving of wind.
18 I even ended up hating what I had achieved here on earth because I have to hand it over to whoever comes after me.
And I hated I all toil my that I [was] a laborer under the sun that I will leave it to the person who will be after me.
19 And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will rule over everything I accomplished through my wisdom here on earth. This is just so frustrating, so hard to understand!
And who? [is] knowing ¿ a wise [person] will he be or? a fool so he may have power over all toil my that I have toiled and that I worked skillfully under the sun also this [is] futility.
20 I decided to give up, my mind in despair over the significance of all my life's achievements.
And I turned I to make despair heart my on all the toil that I have toiled under the sun.
21 For you can work wisely, knowledgably, and with skill—and who benefits? Someone who hasn't worked for it! This is both frustrating and totally unjust!
If there [was] a person who toil his [was] with wisdom and with knowledge and with skill and to a person who not he toiled in it he will give it portion his also this [is] futility and an evil great.
22 What do you get here on earth for all your hard work and worry?
For what? [is] becoming to the person in all toil his and in [the] striving of heart his that he [was] a laborer under the sun.
23 Your working life is full of trouble and strife—even at night your thoughts keep you awake. This is tough to comprehend!
For all days his [are] pains and [is] vexation task his also in the night not it rests heart his also this [is] futility it.
24 So what's the best thing to do? Eat, drink, and enjoy your work, recognizing as I did that these things are given to us by God,
There not [is] good for person that he will eat and he will drink and he will show self his good in toil his also this I have seen I that [is] from [the] hand of God it.
25 for who can eat or enjoy life apart from him?
For who? will he eat and who? will he enjoy outside from me.
26 To those who are good, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy. But to the sinner God gives the task of gathering and collecting wealth, only to hand it over to someone who pleases God. This also shows how fleeting life is, and hard to understand—like trying to understand how the wind blows.
For to anyone who [is] good before him he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy and to the sinner he gives a task to gather and to collect to give [it] to a [person] good before God also this [is] futility and striving of wind.
