Ecclesiastes 2:1-19 ▼

1 I SAID to my heart, Come now, I will prove you with joy; therefore enjoy good things; and, behold, this also is vanity.

2 I said of laughter, What pleasure is there in it? and of mirth, What do you accomplish?

3 I thought in my heart to give myself to wine, but my heart reasoned with wisdom; and I laid hold upon understanding, till I might see what was good for the sons of men, which they should do under the sun all the days of their lives.

4 I multiplied my servants; I built myself houses; I planted vineyards for myself:

5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them trees of all kinds of fruit;

6 I made myself pools of water, to irrigate the nursery that produces trees.

7 I got for myself menservants and maidservants, and had a great household; also I had great possessions of cattle and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem.

8 I gathered for myself silver and gold and the possessions of kings and cities; I got me men singers and women singers and the delights of the sons of men, and I appointed for myself butlers and waitresses.

9 So I became great, and my wealth increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.

10 And whatsoever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my portion of 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 vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

12 So I looked around to behold wisdom and transgression and folly; for who is the man who can enter into judgment with the king? Especially with him who had created him.

13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, just as light excels darkness.

14 The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness; and I myself perceived also that one misfortune happens to them all.

15 Then I said in my heart, The misfortune of the fool will happen to me also; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, This also is vanity.

16 The fool speaks superficially, but there is no remembrance of the wise man more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is, in the days to come shall be forgotten. And just as the wise man dies, so the fool.

17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous to me; for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

18 Yea, I hated all my labor with which I had labored under the sun because I must leave it to the man who shall come after me.

19 And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.