Pleasures Are Meaningless

2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasurew to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,”x I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine,y and embracing follyz—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myselfa and planted vineyards.b 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slavesc who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and goldd for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces.e I acquired male and female singers,f and a harema as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalemg before me.h In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my labor,

and this was the reward for all my toil.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;i

nothing was gained under the sun.j

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,

and also madness and folly.k

What more can the king’s successor do

than what has already been done?l

13 I saw that wisdomm is better than folly,n

just as light is better than darkness.

14 The wise have eyes in their heads,

while the fool walks in the darkness;

but I came to realize

that the same fate overtakes them both.o

15 Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.

What then do I gain by being wise?”p

I said to myself,

“This too is meaningless.”

16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;q

the days have already come when both have been forgotten.r

Like the fool, the wise too must die!s

Toil Is Meaningless

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.t