Ecclesiastes 2:1–17

The Vanity of Pleasure

2I said ^ain my heart, “Come now, I will test you with ^bmirth; ¹therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, ^cthis also was vanity. ²I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?” ^3dI searched in my heart how ²to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was ^egood for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

⁴I made my works great, I built myself ^fhouses, and planted myself vineyards. ⁵I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶I made myself water pools from which to ³water the growing trees of the grove. ⁷I acquired male and female servants, and had ⁴servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. ^8gI also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and ⁵musical instruments of all kinds.

^9hSo I became great and ⁶excelled ⁱmore than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

¹⁰Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.

I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,

For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;

And ^jthis was my ⁷reward from all my labor.

¹¹Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done

And on the labor in which I had toiled;

And indeed all was ^kvanity and grasping for the wind.

There was no profit under the sun.

The End of the Wise and the Fool

¹²Then I turned myself to consider wisdom ^land madness and folly;

For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—

Only what he has already ^mdone.

¹³Then I saw that wisdom ⁿexcels folly

As light excels darkness.

^14oThe wise man’s eyes are in his head,

But the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I myself perceived

That ^pthe same event happens to them all.

¹⁵So I said in my heart,

“As it happens to the fool,

It also happens to me,

And why was I then more wise?”

Then I said in my heart,

“This also is vanity.”

¹⁶For there is ^qno more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,

Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.

And how does a wise man die?

As the fool!

¹⁷Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.