The futility of pleasure
1
I said in my heart, “Pray, come, I try you with mirth, and look on gladness”; and behold, even it [is] vanity.
2
Of laughter I said, “Foolish!” And of mirth, “What [is] this it is doing?”
3
I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly until I see where this [is]—the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
4
I made great my works, I built for myself houses, I planted for myself vineyards.
5
I made for myself gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
6
I made for myself pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.
7
I acquired menservants, and maidservants, 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.
8
I also gathered for myself silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for myself men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man—a wife and wives.
9
And I became great, and increased above everyone who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.
10
And all that my eyes asked I did not keep back from them; I did not withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this has been my portion, from all my labor,
11
and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labor that I have labored to do, and behold, the whole [is] vanity and distress of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
The wise and the foolish
12
And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what [is] the man who comes after the king? That which [is] already—they have done it!
13
And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.
14
The wise—his eyes [are] in his head, and the fool is walking in darkness, and I also knew that one event happens with them all;
15
and I said in my heart, “As it happens with the fool, it happens also with me, and why am I then more wise?” And I spoke in my heart, that also this [is] vanity:
16
That there is no remembrance to the wise—with the fool—for all time, for that which [is] already, [in] the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dies the wise? With the fool!
17
And I have hated life, for sad to me [is] the work that has been done under the sun, for the whole [is] vanity and distress of spirit.
The futility of labor
18
And I have hated all my labor that I labor at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.
19
And who knows whether he is wise or foolish? Yet he rules over all my labor that I have labored at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! This [is] also vanity.
20
And I turned around to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor that I labored at under the sun.
21
For there is a man whose labor [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man who has not labored therein he gives it—his portion! Even this [is] vanity and a great evil.
22
For what has been to a man by all his labor, and by the thought of his heart that he labored at under the sun?
23
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart has not lain down; this [is] also vanity.
24
There is nothing good in a man who eats, and has drunk, and has shown his soul good in his labor. This also I have seen that it [is] from the hand of God.
25
For who eats and who hurries out more than I?
26
For to a man who [is] good before Him, He has given wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; and to a sinner He has given travail, to gather and to heap up, to give to the good before God. Even this [is] vanity and distress of spirit.
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