Ecclesiastes 2 · קהלת

I said in my heart, Come now, I will try thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.

I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What does it achieve?

I sought in my heart to stimulate my body with wine (yet guiding my heart with wisdom;) and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

I made great works for myself; I built houses; I planted vineyards:

I made gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:

I made pools of water, from which to water a forest of growing trees:

I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than all who were in Yerushalayim before me:

I gathered also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces: I acquired men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, women very many.

So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Yerushalayim: also my wisdom remained with me.

And whatever my eyes desired I did not withhold from them; I did not restrain my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

Then I looked at all the works that my hands had wrought, and at the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do who comes after the king? even that which has been already done.

Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all.

Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance; seeing that which now is, shall, in the days to come, be entirely forgotten. And how does the wise man die? just like the fool.

Therefore I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me: for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

And I hated all my labour in which I had laboured under the sun: because I must leave it to the man who shall come after me.

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour in which I have laboured, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skill; yet he must leave it for a portion to a man who has not laboured in it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For what has a man of all his labour, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labours under the sun?

For all his days are pains, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour; but this also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

For who can eat, or who can enjoy pleasure, more than I?

Surely he gives to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up, that he may give it to one who is good before God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.