Ecclesiastes 2:1-16 ▼

1 I told myself, |I will test you with pleasure, so enjoy yourself.| But this was pointless.

2 |Senseless,| said I concerning laughter and pleasure, |How practical is this?|

3 I decided to indulge in wine, while still remaining committed to wisdom. I also tried to indulge in foolishness, just enough to determine whether it was good for human beings under heaven given the short time of their lives.

4 With respect to my extravagant works, I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself.

5 I constructed gardens and orchards for myself, and within them I planted all kinds of fruit trees.

6 I built for myself water reservoirs to irrigate forests that produce trees.

7 I acquired male and female slaves, and had other slaves born in my house. I also acquired for myself increasing numbers of herds and flocks—more than anyone who had lived before me in Jerusalem.

8 I also accumulated silver, gold, and the wealth of kings and their kingdoms. I gathered around me both male and female singers, along with what delights a man—all sorts of mistresses.

9 So I became great, greater than anyone who had lived before me in Jerusalem. Throughout all of this, I remained wise.

10 Whenever I wanted something I had seen, I never refused that desire. Instead, I enjoyed everything I did, and this became the reward in what I had undertaken.

11 Then I examined all of my accomplishments that I had brought about by my own efforts, including the work that I had labored so hard to complete—and it was all pointless, like chasing after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained on earth.

12 Next I turned to examine wisdom, insanity, and foolishness, because what can a person do who succeeds the king except what has already been accomplished?

13 I concluded that wisdom is more useful than foolishness, just as light is more useful than darkness.

14 The wise use their eyes, but the fool walks in darkness. I also perceived that the same outcome affects them all.

15 Then I told myself, |Whatever happens to the fool will happen also to me. Therefore what's the point in being so wise?| And I told myself that this also is pointless.

16 For neither the wise nor the fool will be long remembered, since in days to come everything will be forgotten. The wise man dies the same way as the fool, does he not?