Ecclesiastes 2
2
Does “Having Fun” Bring Happiness?
1I said to myself, “I will try having fun. I will enjoy myself.” But I found that this is also useless. 2It is foolish to laugh all the time. Having fun gets nothing done. 3I decided to cheer myself up with wine. At the same time my mind was still thinking wisely. I wanted to find a way to enjoy myself. I wanted to see what was good for people to do during their few days of life.
Does Hard Work Bring Happiness?
4Then I did great things. I built houses, and I planted vineyards for myself. 5I planted gardens, and I made parks. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6I made pools of water for myself. And I used them to water my growing trees. 7I bought men and women slaves. Slaves were also born in my house. I had large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. I had more than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8I also gathered silver and gold for myself. I took treasures from kings and other areas. I had men and women singers. I had all the wives a man could ever want. 9I became very famous. I was greater than anyone who had lived in Jerusalem before me. My wisdom helped me in all this.
10Anything I saw and wanted, I got for myself.
I did not miss any pleasure I desired.
I was pleased with everything I did.
And this pleasure was the reward for all my hard work.
11But then I looked at what I had done.
I thought about all the hard work.
Suddenly I realized it was just a waste of time, like chasing the wind!
There is nothing to gain from anything we do here on earth.
Maybe Wisdom Is the Answer
12Then I began to think again about being wise.
And I thought also about being foolish and doing crazy things.
But after all, what more can any king do?
He can only do what some other king has already done.
13I saw that being wise is certainly better than being foolish,
just as light is better than darkness.
14A wise man sees where he is going.
But a foolish person is like someone walking around in the dark.
Yet I saw that
both the foolish person and the wise man end the same way.
15I thought to myself,
“What happens to a foolish person will happen to me, too.
So what do I get for being so wise?”
I said to myself,
“Being wise is also useless.”
16The wise man and the foolish person
will both die!
People will not remember either one forever.
In the future, both will be forgotten.
Is There Real Happiness in Life?
17So I hated life. It made me sad to think that everything here on earth is useless. It is like chasing the wind. 18I hated all the things I had worked for here on earth. I hated them because I must leave them to someone who will live after me. 19Someone else will control everything for which I worked so hard here on earth. And I don’t know if he will be wise or foolish. This is also useless. 20So I became sad about all the hard work I had done here on earth. 21A person can work hard using all his wisdom, knowledge and skill. But he will die, and other people will get the things he worked for. They did not do the work, but they will get everything. This is also unfair and useless. 22What does a person get for all his work and struggling here on earth? 23All his life his work is full of pain and sorrow. Even at night his mind doesn’t rest. This is also useless.
24The best a person can do is eat, drink and enjoy his work. I saw that even this comes from God. 25No one can eat or enjoy life without God. 26If a person pleases God, God will give him wisdom, knowledge and joy. But the sinner will get only the work of gathering and storing wealth. Then he will have to give it to the one who pleases God. So all his work is useless. It is like chasing the wind.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Ecclesiastes 2
2
1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure;” and behold, this also was vanity. 2I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives. 4I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards. 5I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. 6I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown. 7I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem. 8I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men: musical instruments of all sorts. 9So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me. 10Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour, and this was my portion from all my labour. 11Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labour that I had laboured to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago. 13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. 14The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. 15Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
17 So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind. 18I hated all my labour in which I laboured under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labour in which I have laboured, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour in which I had laboured under the sun. 21For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skilfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not laboured for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22For what does a man have of all his labour and of the striving of his heart, in which he labours under the sun? 23For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. 24There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. 25For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? 26For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
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