Ecclesiastes 2:1–11

¹I said in my heart, ‘Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;’ and lo, even it is vanity. ²Of laughter I said, ‘Foolish!’ and of mirth, ‘What is this it is doing?’ ³I 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. ⁴I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards. ⁵I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit. ⁶I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees. ⁷I got men-servants, and maid-servants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance—herd and flock—above all who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I 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. ⁹And I became great, and increased above every one who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me. ¹⁰And 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, ¹¹and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labour that I have laboured to do, and lo, the whole is vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!