Eclesiastes 2

The Vanity of Pleasure

1 I said *Luke 12:19in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with *Prov. 14:13; (Eccl. 7:4; 8:15)mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, *Eccl. 1:2this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter—"Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" 3 *Eccl. 1:17I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was*(Eccl. 3:12, 13; 5:18; 6:12)good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

4 I made my works great, I built myself *1 Kin. 7:1–12houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. 7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8 *1 Kin. 9:28; 10:10, 14, 21I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.

9 *Eccl. 1:16So I became great and excelled *2 Chr. 9:22more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.

I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,

For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;

And *Eccl. 3:22; 5:18; 9:9this was my reward from all my labor.

11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done

And on the labor in which I had toiled;

And indeed all was*Eccl. 1:3, 14vanity and grasping for the wind.

Therewas no profit under the sun.

The End of the Wise and the Fool

12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom *Eccl. 1:17; 7:25and madness and folly;

For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—

Only what he has already *Eccl. 1:9done.

13 Then I saw that wisdom *Eccl. 7:11, 14, 19; 9:18; 10:10excels folly

As light excels darkness.

14 *Prov. 17:24; Eccl. 8:1The wise man’s eyes are in his head,

But the fool walks in darkness.

Yet I myself perceived

That *Ps. 49:10; Eccl. 9:2, 3, 11the same event happens to them all.

15 So I said in my heart,

"As it happens to the fool,

It also happens to me,

And why was I then more wise?"

Then I said in my heart,

"This also is vanity."

16 For thereis*Eccl. 1:11; 4:16no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,

Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.

And how does a wise man die?

As the fool!

17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

18 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because *Ps. 49:10I must leave it to the man who will come after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. 21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 *Eccl. 1:3; 3:9For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? 23 For all his days are*Job 5:7; 14:1sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24 *Eccl. 3:12, 13, 22; Is. 56:12; Luke 12:19; 1 Cor. 15:32; (1 Tim. 6:17)Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? 26 For God gives *Job 32:8; Prov. 2:6; James 1:5wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that *Job 27:16, 17; Prov. 28:8he may give to himwhois good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.