2:1 I thought in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.
2:2 “Laughter,” I said, “is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?”
2:3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly–my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
2:4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
2:5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
2:6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.
2:7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
2:8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well–the delights of the heart of man.
2:9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
2:10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.
2:11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
2:12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?
2:13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.
2:14 The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.
2:15 Then I thought in my heart, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said in my heart, “This too is meaningless.”
2:16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die!
2:17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
2:18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
2:19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
2:20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
2:21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
2:22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?
2:23 All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
2:24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
2:25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
2:26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
2:1 I said in my heart, Come now, I will test out pleasure; so taste enjoyment. But indeed, this also is vanity.
2:2 I said of laughter, Madness! and of pleasure, What does it accomplish?
2:3 I searched with my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine while my heart guided me with wisdom, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the children of men to do under the heavens the few days of their lives.
2:4 I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself;
2:5 I made gardens and parks for myself, and planted in them trees of every kind of fruit.
2:6 I made water ponds for myself from which to water a forest of growing trees.
2:7 I bought male and female servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than all that had been before me in Jerusalem.
2:8 I gathered also silver and gold for myself and the treasures of kings and provinces; I got for myself male singers and female singers and the delights of the children of men, concubine after concubine.
2:9 And I became great and increased more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.
2:10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I did not keep my heart from any pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.
2:11 Then I turned to all the works that my hands had done and the labor by which I had labored in doing them, and indeed, all was vanity and a chasing after wind; and there was no advantage under the sun.
2:12 And I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly, for what will the man do who comes after the king? Only that which has been done already.
2:13 And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
2:14 The wise man s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness; yet I also perceived that one fate happens to them all.
2:15 And I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so also will it happen to me. Why then have I been so wise? And I said in my heart, This also is vanity.
2:16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance forever, seeing that in the days to come all will be forgotten. And how the wise man dies just like the fool!
2:17 So I hated life, for the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me, because everything is vanity and a chasing after wind.
2:18 And I hated all my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I will leave it to the man who comes after me.
2:19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master over all my labor for which I have labored and in which I exercised wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
2:20 Therefore I turned and gave my heart up to despair of all the labor for which I had labored under the sun;
2:21 For there is a man whose labor has been with wisdom and with knowledge and with skill, and to a man who has not labored on it he gives it as his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
2:22 For what will a man have with all his labor and with the striving of his heart by which he labors under the sun?
2:23 For all his days are sorrow, and his travail is vexation; even at night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
2:24 There is nothing better for man than to eat and to drink and to make his soul taste enjoyment in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
2:25 For who can eat or who can enjoy without Him?
2:26 For to the man who is good in His sight He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He gives the travail of gathering and heaping up that it may be given to him who is good in God s sight. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.