Ecclesiastes 2

2 ¹ I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good." But this too was fleeting. ² I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?"

³ I searched in my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. ⁴ I undertook great works. I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. ⁵ I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I made myself pools of water to irrigate a forest of growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also owned great herds and flocks, more than anyone who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I gathered for myself silver and gold, the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired singers, both men and women, and the delights of men—many concubines. ⁹ So I became great, surpassing all who were before me in Jerusalem. And my wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰ Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I denied my heart no pleasure, for my heart found joy in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. ¹¹ Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had put into it, and it was all fleeting, a chasing after wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Wisdom Against Folly

¹² So I turned to consider wisdom, and madness, and folly. For what can the one who comes after the king do? Only what has already been done. ¹³ Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ¹⁴ The wise person has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same fate befalls them all. ^a a v14 A Hebrew expression meaning the wise person sees clearly. ¹⁵ Then I said in my heart, "What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this too is fleeting. ¹⁶ For the wise, like the fool, will not be remembered for long, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷ So I hated life, because the work done under the sun was troubling to me, for it is all fleeting, a chasing after wind.

Toil Left to a Stranger

¹⁸ I hated all my toil at which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the one who comes after me. ¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This too is fleeting.

²⁰ So I turned my heart over to despair concerning all the toil of my labor under the sun. ²¹ For a person may toil with wisdom and knowledge and skill, yet must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This too is fleeting, and a great evil. ²² What does a person gain from all the toil and striving of heart with which he labors under the sun? ²³ For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a source of frustration; even at night his heart does not rest. This too is fleeting. ²⁴ There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This too, I saw, is from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him, who can eat or who can find enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and collecting, only to hand it over to one who pleases God. This too is fleeting, a chasing after wind.