Ecclesiastes 2:1-16 ▼

1 I said in my heart: “I will go forth and overflow with delights, and I will enjoy good things.” And I saw that this, too, is emptiness.

2 Laughter, I considered an error. And to rejoicing, I said: “Why are you being deceived, to no purpose?”

3 I decided in my heart to withdraw my flesh from wine, so that I might bring my mind to wisdom, and turn away from foolishness, until I see what is useful for the sons of men, and what they ought to do under the sun, during the number of the days of their life.

4 I magnified my works. I built houses for myself, and I planted vineyards.

5 I made gardens and orchards. And I planted them with trees of every kind.

6 And I dug out fishponds of water, so that I might irrigate the forest of growing trees.

7 I obtained men and women servants, and I had a great family, as well as herds of cattle and great flocks of sheep, beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem.

8 I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and governors. I chose men and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, bowls and pitchers for the purpose of pouring wine.

9 And I surpassed in opulence all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also persevered with me.

10 And all that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. Neither did I prohibit my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and from amusing itself in the things that I had prepared. And I regarded this as my share, as if I were making use of my own labors.

11 But when I turned myself toward all the works that my hands had made, and to the labors in which I had perspired to no purpose, I saw emptiness and affliction of the soul in all things, and that nothing is permanent under the sun.

12 I continued on, so as to contemplate wisdom, as well as error and foolishness. “What is man,” I said, “that he would be able to follow his Maker, the King?”

13 And I saw that wisdom surpasses foolishness, so much so that they differ as much as light from darkness.

14 The eyes of a wise man are in his head. A foolish man walks in darkness. Yet I learned that one would pass away like the other.

15 And I said in my heart: “If the death of both the foolish and myself will be one, how does it benefit me, if I have given myself more thoroughly to the work of wisdom?” And as I was speaking within my own mind, I perceived that this, too, is emptiness.

16 For there will not be a remembrance in perpetuity of the wise, nor of the foolish. And the future times will cover everything together, with oblivion. The learned die in a manner similar to the unlearned.