Ecclesiastes 2
2
The Futility of Self-Indulgence
1I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity. 2I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; 5I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.#2.8 Meaning of Heb uncertain
9So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. 10Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. 11Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind,#2.11 Or a feeding on wind. See Hos 12.1 and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Wisdom and Joy Given to One Who Pleases God
12So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.
14The wise have eyes in their head,
but fools walk in darkness.
Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them. 15Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity. 16For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? 17So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.#2.17 Or a feeding on wind. See Hos 12.1
18I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me 19—and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, 21because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.
24There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; 25for apart from him#2.25 Gk Syr: Heb apart from me who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.#2.26 Or a feeding on wind. See Hos 12.1
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Ecclesiastes 2: NRSV
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Ecclesiastes 2
2
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!
12And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what [is] the man who cometh after the king? that which [is] already — they have done it!
13And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.
14The wise! — his eyes [are] in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew that one event happeneth with them all;
15and I said in my heart, ‘As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?’ And I spake in my heart, that also this [is] vanity:
16That there is no remembrance to the wise — with the fool — to the age, for that which [is] already, [in] the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!
17And I have hated life, for sad to me [is] the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
18And I have hated all my labour that I labour at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.
19And who knoweth whether he is wise or foolish? yet he doth rule over all my labour that I have laboured at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! this also [is] vanity.
20And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour that I laboured at under the sun.
21For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man who hath not laboured therein he giveth it — his portion! Even this [is] vanity and a great evil.
22For what hath been to a man by all his labour, and by the thought of his heart that he laboured at under the sun?
23For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart hath not lain down; this also [is] vanity.
24There is nothing good in a man who eateth, and hath drunk, and hath shewn his soul good in his labour. This also I have seen that it [is] from the hand of God.
25For who eateth and who hasteth out more than I?
26For to a man who [is] good before Him, He hath given wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; and to a sinner He hath given travail, to gather and to heap up, to give to the good before God. Even this [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
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