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 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 [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.”
Of laughter I said [it is] folly and of pleasure what? this [is it] doing.
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 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 I did great things: I [caused] houses to be built for myself and vineyards to be planted.
I made great works my I built for myself houses I planted for myself 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 for myself gardens and parks and I planted in them tree[s] of every fruit.
6 I [told them to] build reservoirs to store water to irrigate the fruit 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 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 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 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 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 So, I became greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and I was [very] wise.
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 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 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] 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.
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 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 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 And I thought, “Surely it is better to be wise than to be foolish, like 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 [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 [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 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.
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 Wise people and foolish people all die. And after we die, we will all eventually be forgotten [DOU].”
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 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.
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 [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 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/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? [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 thought about all the hard work that I had done. [It seemed useless], and I became depressed/discouraged.
And I turned I to make despair heart my on all the toil that I have toiled 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.
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 So, it seems that people do not [RHQ] get much for all the hard work that they do and for worrying.
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 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 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 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 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 There is absolutely no one [RHQ] who is able to enjoy those things if God does not give those things to him.
For who? will he eat and who? will he enjoy outside from me.
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 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.
