Kohelet - Chapter 2

1. I said to myself, "Come now, I will mix [wine] with joy and experience pleasure"; and behold, this too was vanity.

2. Of laughter, I said, "[It is] mingled"; and concerning joy, "What does this accomplish?"

3. I searched in my heart to indulge my body with wine, and my heart conducting itself with wisdom and holding onto folly, until I would see which is better for the children of men that they should do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.

4. I made myself great works; I built myself houses, and I planted myself vineyards.

5. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted in them all sorts of fruit trees.

6. I made myself pools of water, to water from them a forest sprouting with trees.

7. I acquired male and female slaves, and I had household members; also I had possession of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

8. I accumulated for myself also silver and gold, and the treasures of the kings and the provinces; I acquired for myself various types of musical instruments, the delight of the sons of men, wagons and coaches.

9. So I became great, and I increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.

10. And [of] all that my eyes desired I did not deprive them; I did not deprive my heart of any joy, but my heart rejoiced with all my toil, and this was my portion from all my toil.

11. Then I turned [to look] at all my deeds that my hands had wrought and upon the toil that I had toiled to do, and behold everything is vanity and frustration, and there is no profit under the sun.

12. And I turned to see wisdom and madness and folly, for what is the man who will come after the king, concerning that which they have already done?

13. And I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, as the advantage of light over darkness.

14. The wise man has eyes in its beginning, but the fool goes in the darkness, and I too know that one event happens to them all.

15. And I said to myself, "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen to me too, so why then did I become wiser?" And I said to myself that this too is vanity.

16. For there is no remembrance of the wise man even as of the fool forever, seeing that in the coming days, all is forgotten. And how shall the wise die with the fool?

17. So I hated the living, for the deed that was done under the sun grieved me, for everything is vanity and frustration.

18. And I hated all my toil that I toil under the sun, that I should leave it to the man who will be after me.

19. And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish. And he will rule over all my toil that I have toiled and that I have gained wisdom under the sun; this too is vanity.

20. And I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the toil that I toiled under the sun.

21. For there is a man whose toil is with wisdom and with knowledge and with honesty and to a man who did not toil for it he will give it as his portion; this too is vanity and a great evil.

22. For what has a man out of all his toil and the breaking of his heart that he toils under the sun?

23. For all his days are pains and his occupation is vexation; even at night his heart does not rest; this too is vanity.

24. Is it not good for a man that he eat and drink and show himself enjoyment in his toil? This too have I seen that it is from the hand of God.

25. For who will eat and who will hasten [to swallow it] except me?

26. For to a man who is good in His sight, He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He has given an occupation to gather and to accumulate, to give to him who is good in God's sight; this too is vanity and frustration.