| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1I said to myself, "Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good." But it turned out to be futile. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2I said about laughter, "It is madness," and about pleasure, "What does this accomplish?" |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly--my mind still guiding me with wisdom--until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6I constructed reservoirs of water for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He will do what has already been done. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15So I said to myself, "What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?" And I said to myself that this is also futile. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool? |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work that I had labored at under the sun. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21When there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors at under the sun? |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God's hand, |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him? |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God's sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. |
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