1 I said in my heart, ‘Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;’ and lo, even it [is] vanity.
2 Of laughter I said, ‘Foolish!’ and of mirth, ‘What [is] this it is doing?’
3 I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where [is] this—the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
4 I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.
5 I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
6 I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.
7 I got men-servants, and maid-servants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance—herd and flock—above all{.htm| title="{"> who had been before me in Jerusalem.
8 I gathered for me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man—a wife and wives.
9 And I became great, and increased above every one{.htm| title="{"> who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.
10 And all that mine eyes asked I kept not back from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour, and this hath been my portion, from all my labour,
11 and I have looked on all my works{.htm| title="{"> that my hands have done, and on the labour{.htm| title="{"> that I have laboured to do, and lo, the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
12 And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what [is] the man{.htm| title="{"> who cometh after the king? that which [is] already—they have done it!
13 And I saw{.htm| title="{"> that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.
14 The wise!—his eyes [are] in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew{.htm| title="{"> that one event happeneth with them all;
15 and I said in my heart, ‘As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?’ And I spake in my heart{.htm| title="{">, that also this [is] vanity:
16 That there is no remembrance to the wise—with the fool—to the age{.htm| title="{">, for that which [is] already, [in] the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!
17 And I have hated life, for sad to me [is] the work{.htm| title="{"> that hath been done under the sun, for the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
18 And I have hated all my labour{.htm| title="{"> that I labour at under the sun{.htm| title="{">, because I leave it to a man{.htm| title="{"> who is after me.
19 And who knoweth whether he is wise or foolish? yet he doth rule over all my labour{.htm| title="{"> that I have laboured{.htm| title="{"> at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! this also [is] vanity.
20 And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour{.htm| title="{"> that I laboured at under the sun.
21 For there is a man{.htm| title="{"> whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man{.htm| title="{"> who hath not laboured therein he giveth it—his portion! Even this [is] vanity and a great evil.
