Eccl 2
1
I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure:
and, behold, this also was vanity.
2
I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What does it?
3
I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my 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 heaven all the days of their life.
4
I made me great works; I built me houses; I planted me vineyards;
5
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
6
I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared;
7
I bought men-servants and maid-servants, 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 gathered me also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces;
I gat me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, musical
instruments, and that of all sorts.
9
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also
my wisdom remained with me.
10
And whatever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from
any joy; for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor; and this was my portion from
all my labor.
11
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I
had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there
was no profit under the sun.
12
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man
[do] that comes after the king? [even] that which has been done long ago.
13
Then I saw that wisdom excells folly, as far as light excells darkness.
14
The wise man`s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness: and yet I perceived
that one event happens to them all.
15
Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me;
and why was I then more wise? Then said I in my heart, that this also is vanity.
16
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 long forgotten. And how does the wise
man die even as the fool!
17
So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous to me;
for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
18
And I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave
it to the man that shall be after me.
19
And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over
all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the
sun. This also is vanity.
20
Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein
I had labored under the sun.
21
For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skilfulness;
yet to a man that has not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This
also is vanity and a great evil.
22
For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he
labors under the sun?
23
For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in the night
his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
24
There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his
soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
25
For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?
26
For to the man that pleases him [God] gives wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to
the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him whom
pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.