Ecclesiastes, 2

1. I thought to myself, 'Very well, I will try pleasure and see what enjoyment has to offer.' And this was futile too.

1. I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity.

2. This laughter, I reflected, is a madness, this pleasure no use at all.

2. I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

3. I decided to hand my body over to drinking wine, my mind still guiding me in wisdom; I resolved to embrace folly, to discover the best way for people to spend their days under the sun.

3. I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

4. I worked on a grand scale: built myself palaces, planted vineyards;

4. I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:

5. made myself gardens and orchards, planting every kind of fruit tree in them;

5. I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits:

6. had pools made for watering the young trees of my plantations.

6. I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:

7. I bought slaves, male and female, had home-born slaves as well; herds and flocks I had too, more than anyone in Jerusalem before me.

7. I got [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

8. I amassed silver and gold, the treasures of kings and provinces; acquired singers, men and women, and every human luxury, chest upon chest of it.

8. I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

9. So I grew great, greater than anyone in Jerusalem before me; nor did my wisdom leave me.

9. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

10. I denied my eyes nothing that they desired, refused my heart no pleasure, for I found all my hard work a pleasure, such was the return for all my efforts.

10. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

11. I then reflected on all that my hands had achieved and all the effort I had put into its achieving. What futility it all was, what chasing after the wind! There is nothing to be gained under the sun.

11. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.

12. My reflections then turned to wisdom, stupidity and folly. For instance, what can the successor of a king do? What has been done already.

12. And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been already done.

13. More is to be gained from wisdom than from folly, just as one gains more from light than from darkness; this, of course, I see:

13. Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

14. The wise have their eyes open, the fool walks in the dark. No doubt! But I know, too, that one fate awaits them both.

14. The wise man's eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

15. 'Since the fool's fate', I thought to myself, 'will be my fate too, what is the point of my having been wise?' I realised that this too is futile.

15. Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity.

16. For there is no lasting memory for the wise or the fool, and in the days to come both will be forgotten; the wise, no less than the fool, must die.

16. For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool.

17. Life I have come to hate, for what is done under the sun disgusts me, since all is futility and chasing after the wind.

17. Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

18. All I have toiled for under the sun and now bequeath to my successor I have come to hate;

18. Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

19. who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all the work into which I have put my efforts and wisdom under the sun. That is futile too.

19. And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise [man] or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This [is] also vanity.

20. I have come to despair of all the efforts I have expended under the sun.

20. Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

21. For here is one who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successfully and must leave what is his own to someone who has not toiled for it at all. This is futile too, and grossly unjust;

21. For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it [for] his portion. This also [is] vanity and a great evil.

22. for what does he gain for all the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun-

22. For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?

23. since his days are full of sorrow, his work is full of stress and even at night he has no peace of mind? This is futile too.

23. For all his days [are] sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

24. There is no happiness except in eating and drinking, and in enjoying one's achievements; and I see that this too comes from God's hand;

24. [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.

25. for who would get anything to eat or drink, unless all this came from him?

25. For who can eat, or who else can hasten [hereunto], more than I?

26. Wisdom, knowledge and joy, God gives to those who please him, but on the sinner he lays the task of gathering and storing up for someone else who is pleasing to him. This too is futility and chasing after the wind.

26. For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to [him that is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.