Ecclesiastes 2 — LSV
2Verse 1I said in my heart, “Pray, come, I try you with mirth, and look on gladness”; and behold, even it [is] vanity.Verse 2Of laughter I said, “Foolish!” And of mirth, “What [is] this it is doing?”Verse 3I 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.Verse 4I made great my works, I built for myself houses, I planted for myself vineyards.Verse 5I made for myself gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.Verse 6I made for myself pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.Verse 7I 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.Verse 8I 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.Verse 9And I became great, and increased above everyone who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.Verse 10And 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,Verse 11and 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!Verse 12And 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!Verse 13And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.Verse 14The 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;Verse 15and 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:Verse 16That 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!Verse 17And 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.Verse 18And I have hated all my labor that I labor at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.Verse 19And 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.Verse 20And I turned around to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor that I labored at under the sun.Verse 21For 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.Verse 22For what has been to a man by all his labor, and by the thought of his heart that he labored at under the sun?Verse 23For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart has not lain down; this [is] also vanity.Verse 24There 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.Verse 25For who eats and who hurries out more than I?Verse 26For 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.