Ecclesiastes 2:1–26

The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

2I ^xsaid in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.^{1 2}I ^ysaid of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³I ^zsearched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^afolly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴I made great works. I ^bbuilt houses and planted ^cvineyards for myself. ⁵I made myself ^dgardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷I bought male and female slaves, and had ^eslaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of ^fherds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and ^ggold and the treasure of ^hkings and ⁱprovinces. I got ^jsingers, both men and women, and many ^kconcubines,² the delight of the sons of man.

⁹So I became great and ^lsurpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my ^lwisdom remained with me. ¹⁰And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart ^mfound pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ⁿreward for all my toil. ¹¹Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^ovanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^pto be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

^12qSo I turned to consider ^rwisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^swhat has already been done. ¹³Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ^14tThe wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^usame event happens to all of them. ¹⁵Then I said in my heart, ^v“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. ¹⁶For of the wise as of the fool there is ^wno enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^xHow the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^oall is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸I hated ^yall my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^zleave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰So I ^aturned about and gave my heart up to despair ^bover all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²What has a man from ^call the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³For ^dall his days are full of sorrow, and his ^ework is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

^24fThere is nothing better for a person than that he should ^geat and drink and find enjoyment³ in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^hfrom the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him⁴ who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him ⁱGod has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^ethe business of gathering and collecting, ^jonly to give to one who pleases God. ^kThis also is vanity and a striving after wind.