1 The Vanity of Pleasure I said Luke 12:19 in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with Prov. 14:13; (Eccl. 7:4; 8:15) mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, Eccl. 1:2 this also was vanity.
2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
3 Eccl. 1:17 I 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. 7:1–12 houses, 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, 21 I 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. 1:16 So I became great and excelled 2 Chr. 9:22 more 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; 9:9 this 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, 14 vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.
12 The End of the Wise and the Fool Then I turned myself to consider wisdom Eccl. 1:17; 7:25 and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already Eccl. 1:9 done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom Eccl. 7:11, 14, 19; 9:18; 10:10 excels folly As light excels darkness.
14 Prov. 17:24; Eccl. 8:1 The 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, 11 the 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 there is Eccl. 1:11; 4:16 no 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. 49:10 I 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; 3:9 For 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; 14:1 sorrowful, 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 1:5 wisdom 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. 28:8 he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.