Ecclesiastes 2
1 [Then] I said to myself, “Okay, I will try to do everything that I enjoy. I will find out whether doing what I enjoy can truly enable me to be happy.” But I found out that doing that was also useless/senseless.
I SAID in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.
2 [So] I said [to myself], “It is foolish to laugh [all the time], and continually doing what I enjoy does not seem to bring any lasting benefit.”
I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
3 [So], after thinking a lot about it, I decided to (cheer myself/cause myself to be happy) by drinking [a lot of] wine. [So] while I was still trying to be wise, I decided to do things that [many] people do to be happy during the short time that they are alive on the earth.
I searched in mine heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, mine heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
4 I did great things: I [caused] houses to be built for myself and vineyards to be planted.
I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards;
5 I [told my workers] to make gardens and parks. [Then] I [told them to] fill the gardens with many kinds of fruit trees.
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit:
6 I [told them to] build reservoirs to store water to irrigate the fruit trees.
I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared:
7 I bought male and female slaves, and babies [who later became my slaves] were born in my palace. I also owned more livestock than any of the previous kings in Jerusalem had owned.
I bought menservants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all that were before me in Jerusalem:
8 I also accumulated large amounts of silver and gold [that were paid to me] from the treasures of kings and rulers of provinces. [I hired] men and women to sing for me, and I had many (concubines/slave wives) who gave me [much] pleasure [EUP].
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, concubines very many.
9 So, I became greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and I was [very] wise.
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
10 I got everything [LIT] that I [SYN] saw and wanted. I did everything [LIT] that I thought would enable me to be happy. All those things that I [SYN] enjoyed were [like] a reward for all my hard work.
And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them: I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour; and this was my portion from all my labour.
11 [But] then I thought about all the hard work that I [SYN] had done [to get all those things], and none of it seems to bring any lasting benefit [DOU]. It was all [like] chasing the wind.
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
12 Then I started to think about being wise, and [also about] being foolish [DOU]. [I said to myself, “I certainly do not think that] [RHQ] the next king will be able to do anything better than I can.”
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness and folly; for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been already done.
13 And I thought, “Surely it is better to be wise than to be foolish, like light is better than darkness,
Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
14 [because] wise people [walk in the daylight and] [IDM] can see where they are going, but foolish people walk in the darkness [and cannot see where they are going].” But I [also] realized that both wise people and foolish people eventually die.
The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all.
15 So I said to myself, “I am very wise, but I will [die at the end of my life], like foolish people do. So (how has it benefited me to be very wise?/it certainly has not benefited me to be very wise [RHQ]). I do not understand why [people consider that] it is valuable to be wise.
Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also was vanity.
16 Wise people and foolish people all die. And after we die, we will all eventually be forgotten [DOU].”
For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been already forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!
17 So I hated being alive, because everything that we do here on the earth [MTY] distresses me. It all seems to be useless [like] chasing the wind.
So I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me: for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
18 I [also began to] hate all the hard work that I had done, because [when I die], everything [that I have acquired] will belong to the next king.
And I hated all my labour wherein I laboured under the sun: seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19 And (who/no one) knows [RHQ] whether he will be wise or whether he will be foolish. But even if he is foolish, he will acquire all the things that I worked very hard and wisely to get.
And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
20 I thought about all the hard work that I had done. [It seemed useless], and I became depressed/discouraged.
Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour wherein I had laboured under the sun.
21 Some people work wisely and skillfully, using the things that they have learned. But [when they die], they leave everything, and someone who has not worked hard acquires those things. And that also [seemed to] be senseless and caused me to be discouraged.
For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skilfulness; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 So, it seems that people do not [RHQ] get much for all the hard work that they do and for worrying.
For what hath a man of all his labour, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he laboureth under the sun?
23 Every day the work that they do causes them to experience pain and to be worried. And during the night, their minds are not able to rest. That also is very frustrating.
For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity.
24 [So I decided that] the best thing that we can do is to enjoy what we eat and drink, and [also] enjoy our work. And I realized that those things are what God intends for us.
There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
25 There is absolutely no one [RHQ] who is able to enjoy those things if God does not give those things to him.
For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?
26 God enables those who please him to be wise, to know [many things], and to enjoy [many things]. But if sinful people work hard and become rich, God [can] take their money away from them and give it to those who please him. But that also is something that is difficult for me to understand. [Their working hard seems] useless, [like] chasing the wind.
For to the man that pleaseth him [God] giveth wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that pleaseth God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
