Ecclesiastes 2
2
1I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too. 2I discovered that laughter is foolish, that pleasure does you no good. 3Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.
4 #
1 Kgs 10.23–27; 2 Chr 9.22–27 I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards. 5I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them; 6I dug ponds to irrigate them. 7#1 Kgs 4.23I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem. 8#1 Kgs 10.10, 14–22I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want.
9 #
1 Chr 29.25
Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me. 10Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward. 11Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind — of no use at all. 12After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done.
So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish. 13Oh, I know, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. 14The wise can see where they are going, and fools cannot.” But I also know that the same fate is waiting for us all. 15I thought to myself, “I will suffer the same fate as fools. So what have I gained from being so wise?” “Nothing,” I answered, “not a thing.” 16No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die — wise and foolish alike. 17So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.
18Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor, 19and he might be wise, or he might be foolish — who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless. 20So I came to regret that I had worked so hard. 21You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right! 22You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it? 23#Job 5.7; 14.1As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless.
24 #
Ecc 3.13; 5.18; 9.7; Lk 12.19; 1 Cor 15.32 The best thing anyone can do is to eat and drink and enjoy what he has earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God. 25How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all? 26#Job 32.8; Prov 2.6God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.
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Ecclesiastes 2: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Ecclesiastes 2
2
Qohelet’s Investigation of Self-Indulgence
1I said to myself,#Literally “to my heart” “Come! I will test#The MT reads “I will test you,” but the BHS editors propose “I will test …” Whether or not one adopts MT, Qohelet is speaking to himself pleasure to see whether it is worthwhile.”#Literally “and look at goodness”; this idiom refers to the enjoyment of life But look, “This also is vanity!” 2I said of laughter, “It is folly!” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”#Literally “What does it give?” 3I also explored#Literally “I searched in my mind” the effects of indulging my flesh#Literally “to cheer my flesh” with wine. My mind guiding me with wisdom, I investigated#Literally “laid hold of” folly so that I might discover what is good under heaven#Follows MT; two medieval Hebrew manuscripts, LXX, Peshitta read, “under the sun,” cf. 1:3, 9, etc. for humans#Literally “the sons of the man” to do during the days of their lives.#Literally “the number of the days of their lives”
Qohelet’s Investigation of Personal Accomplishment
4I accomplished great things.#Literally “I made great my works” I built for myself houses; I planted for myself vineyards. 5I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted all sorts of fruit trees in them. 6I made for myself pools of water from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees. 7I acquired male slaves and female slaves, as well as children born in my house. I also had livestock, cattle, and flocks more than anyone who was before me in Jerusalem. 8I also gathered to myself silver and gold—the royal and provincial treasuries. I acquired for myself male and female singers, as well as the delight of men,#Literally “the sons of the man” voluptuous concubines.#Literally “a breast and breasts,” as a synecdoche for beautiful women in the king’s harem
9Thus, I accomplished far more#Literally “I became great and I surpassed” than anyone who was before me in Jerusalem—indeed, my wisdom stood by me. 10I neither withheld anything from my eyes that they desired, nor did I deprive any pleasure from my heart. My heart rejoiced in all my toil, for this was my reward from all my toil. 11Yet when I considered#Or “turned to” all the effort which I expended and the toil with which I toiled to do, then behold, “Everything is vanity and chasing wind! There is nothing profitable under the sun!”
The Living Must Abandon the Work of their Hands to Others at Death
12Next, I considered wisdom, as well as delusion and folly. What can anyone do who will come after the king that has not already been done? 13I realized that wisdom has an advantage over folly, just as light has an advantage over darkness. 14The wise man can see where he is walking,#Literally “The eyes of the wise are in his head” but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that both of them suffer the same fate. 15So I said to myself,#Literally “in my heart” “If I also suffer the same fate as the fool,#Literally “Just as the fate of the fool—so it will happen to me!” what advantage is my great wisdom?”#Literally “why have I been so exceedingly wise?” So I said to myself,#Literally “in my heart” “This also is vanity!”
16Certainly no one will remember the wise man or the fool in future generations.#Literally “the futures” When future days come, both will have been forgotten already. How is it that the wise man dies the same as the fool? 17So I hated life because the work done under the sun is grievous to me. For everything is vanity and chasing wind!
18So I hated all my toil with which I have toiled under the sun, for I must leave it behind to someone who will be after me. 19And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all the fruit of my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also is vanity!
20So I began to despair#Literally “I myself turned to cause my heart to despair” of all the toil with which I toiled under the sun. 21For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also is vanity and a great calamity. 22For what does a person receive for all his toil and in the longing of his heart with which he toils under the sun? 23All his days are painful, his labor brings grief, and his heart cannot rest at night. This also is vanity!
It is Best to Simply Enjoy the Passing Pleasures of Life as Reward for Pleasing God
24There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and find delight#Literally “to see good” in his toil. For I also realized that this is from the hand of God! 25For who can eat and drink, and who can enjoy life apart from him?#The MT reads “more than me,” which is supported by Aramaic Targum and Latin Vulgate, but several medieval Hebrew manuscripts read “from him” 26For to the person who is good in his eyes, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and heaping up only to give it to him who is pleasing to him. This also is vanity and chasing wind!
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