Ecclesiastes

I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth. Therefore, consider with goodness. And behold, this also [is] vanity.

I said of laughter, [it is] madness, and of mirth, What does it do?

I sought in my heart [how] to drag my flesh with wine, and leading my heart in wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might see where the good for the sons of men [is], that which they should do under the heavens the number of days of their life.

I made my works great; I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself;

I made gardens and parks for myself; and I planted trees in them, of every fruit;

I made pools of water for myself; to water from them the forest shooting forth trees;

I bought slaves and slave girls, and the sons of the house were mine. Also livestock, a herd and a great flock were mine, above all that were before me in Jerusalem.

I also gathered to me silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of provinces. I made ready male singers and female singers for myself; and the delights of the sons of men, a concubine, and concubines.

And I became great and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom stayed with me.

And all that my eyes desired, I did not set aside from them; I withheld not my heart from all mirth; for my heart rejoiced from all my labor; and this was my part from all my labor.

Then I faced on all my works that my hands had done, and on the labor that I had labored to do. And, lo, all [is] vanity and striving [after] wind, and [there is] no profit under the sun.

And I turned to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly. For what [can] a man [do] who comes after the king, when they have already done it?

Then I saw that there is advantage to wisdom above folly, even as light has advantage over darkness.

The wise man's eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walks in darkness; and I also know that one event happens with all of them.

And I said in my heart, As the event of the stupid one, even [so] it will happen to me; and why then was I more wise? Then I said in my heart that this also [is] vanity.

For there [is] not a memory of the wise [more than] with the fool forever, in that already the days to come will be forgotten. And how does the wise die above the fool?

So then I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun [is] evil to me; for all [is] vanity and striving [after] wind.

Yes, I hated all my labor that I labored under the sun, that I must leave it to the man who will be after me.

And who knows [if] he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he shall rule among all my labor in which I labored, and acted wisely under the sun. This [is] also vanity.

And I turned to make my heart despair over all the labor which I labored under the sun.

When there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with advantage; yet he shall give it to a man who has not labored with it, [for] his share; this also [is] vanity and a great evil.

For what is there for man in all his labor, and in longing of his heart, which he has labored under the sun?

For all his days [are] pains, and his task [is] grief; his heart does not even take rest in the night. Even this also [is] vanity.

Is it not good that he should eat and drink and make his soul see good in his labor? This I also saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.

For who can eat, or who can enjoy, apart from Me?