Ecclesiastes 2
1 I said in my heart, “Pray, come, I try you with mirth, and look on gladness”; and behold, even it [is] vanity.
I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity.
2 Of laughter I said, “Foolish!” And of mirth, “What [is] this it is doing?”
Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art thou vainly deceived?
3 I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly until I see where this [is]—the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I might turn my mind to wisdom, and might avoid folly, till I might see what was profitable for the children of men: and what they ought to do under the sun, all the days of their life.
4 I made great my works, I built for myself houses, I planted for myself vineyards.
I made me great works, I built me houses, and planted vineyards,
5 I made for myself gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds,
6 I made for myself pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.
And I made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of the young trees,
7 I acquired menservants, and maidservants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance—herd and flock—above all who had been before me in Jerusalem.
I got me menservants, and maidservants, and had a great family: and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep, above all that were before me in Jerusalem:
8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for myself men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man—a wife and wives.
I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing women, and the delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to serve to pour out wine:
9 And I became great, and increased above everyone who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.
And I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Jerusalem: my wisdom also remained with me.
10 And all that my eyes asked I did not keep back from them; I did not withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this has been my portion, from all my labor,
And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: and I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the things which I had prepared: and esteemed this my portion, to make use of my own labour.
11 and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labor that I have labored to do, and behold, the whole [is] vanity and distress of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun.
12 And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what [is] the man who comes after the king? That which [is] already—they have done it!
I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I, that he can follow the King his maker?)
13 And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.
And I saw that wisdom excelled folly, as much as light differeth from darkness.
14 The wise—his eyes [are] in his head, and the fool is walking in darkness, and I also knew that one event happens with them all;
The eyes of a wise man are in his head: the fool walketh in darkness: and I learned that they were to die both alike.
15 and I said in my heart, “As it happens with the fool, it happens also with me, and why am I then more wise?” And I spoke in my heart, that also this [is] vanity:
And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this also was vanity.
16 That there is no remembrance to the wise—with the fool—for all time, for that which [is] already, [in] the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dies the wise? With the fool!
For there shall be no remembrance of the wise no more than of the fool for ever, and the times to come shall cover all things together with oblivion: the learned dieth in like manner as the unlearned.
17 And I have hated life, for sad to me [is] the work that has been done under the sun, for the whole [is] vanity and distress of spirit.
And therefore I was weary of my life, when I saw that all things under the sun are evil, and all vanity and vexation of spirit.
18 And I have hated all my labor that I labor at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.
Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me,
19 And who knows whether he is wise or foolish? Yet he rules over all my labor that I have labored at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! This [is] also vanity.
Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and he shall have rule over all my labours with which I have laboured and been solicitous: and is there any thing so vain?
20 And I turned around to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor that I labored at under the sun.
Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring any more under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labor [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man who has not labored therein he gives it—his portion! Even this [is] vanity and a great evil.
For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this also is vanity, and a great evil.
22 For what has been to a man by all his labor, and by the thought of his heart that he labored at under the sun?
For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he bath been tormented under the sun?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart has not lain down; this [is] also vanity.
All his days axe full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity?
24 There is nothing good in a man who eats, and has drunk, and has shown his soul good in his labor. This also I have seen that it [is] from the hand of God.
Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God.
25 For who eats and who hurries out more than I?
Who shall so feast and abound with delights as I?
26 For to a man who [is] good before Him, He has given wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; and to a sinner He has given travail, to gather and to heap up, to give to the good before God. Even this [is] vanity and distress of spirit.
God hath given to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that hath pleased God: but this also is vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind.
