1I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy good things; and, behold, this also [is] vanity.
2I said of laughter, [It is] mad, and of mirth, What does it do?
3I proposed in my heart to regale my flesh with wine and that my heart would walk in wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until 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.
4I made myself great works; I built myself houses; I planted myself vineyards;
5I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits;
6I made myself pools of water, to water with them the forest that brings forth trees;
7I got [myself] servants and maidens and had sons born in my house; also I had great possessions of cattle and sheep above all that were in Jerusalem before me;
8I gathered [unto] myself also silver and gold and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I obtained men singers and women singers and [all] the delights of the sons of men, musical instruments, and those of all sorts.
9So I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem, and more than that, my wisdom remained with me.
10And 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 labour, and this was my portion of all my labour.
11At last 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.
12And I turned myself to behold wisdom and those [who are] mad, and folly; for what [can] the man [do] that comes after the king? [even] that which has already been done.
13And I have seen that wisdom excels folly as far as light excels darkness.
14The wise man [has] his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness: And I myself also understood that one event happens to the one and to the other.
15[Then] I said in my heart, As it shall happen to the fool, so it shall happen even to me. Why have I worked until now to make myself wiser? Then I said in my heart that this also [is] vanity.
16For [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 also the wise [man] shall die the same as the fool.
17[Therefore] I hated life because [every] work that is wrought under the sun [was] grievous unto me; for all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit.
18[Yea], I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun, which I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
19And who knows whether he shall be a wise [man] or a fool, he who shall have rule over all my labour in which I have laboured and in which I have showed myself wise under the sun? This [is] also vanity.
20Therefore my heart began to despair again regarding all the labour which I took under the sun.
21That the man who worked with wisdom and with knowledge and with uprightness would have to leave his portion to a man that has not laboured therein. This also [is] vanity and a great evil.
22For what does man have of all his labour and of the vexation of his heart in which he has laboured under the sun?
23For all his days [are only] sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart does not take rest in the night. This is also vanity.
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. I also have seen that this [is] from the hand of God.
25For who can eat, or who can care for himself better than I?
26For God gives to the man that [is] good in [his] sight wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to the one that is good before [God]. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.: