=> Chapters
[1] I said in my heart,
Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, and behold thou good:
And, behold, this is also vanity.
[2] I said to laughter, Madness:
And to mirth, Why doest thou this?
[3] And I examined whether my heart
Would excite my flesh as with wine
(Though my heart guided me in wisdom),
And I desired to lay hold of mirth,
Until I should see of what kind is the good to the sons of men,
Which they should do under the sun
All the days of their life.
[4] I enlarged my work;
I built me houses;
I planted me vineyards.
[5] I made me gardens and orchards,
And planted in them every kind of fruit tree.
[6] I made me pools of water,
To water from them the timber-bearing wood.
[7] I got servants and maidens,
And servants were born to me in the house:
Also I had abundant possession of flocks and herds,
Beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem.
[8] Moreover I collected for myself both silver and gold also,
And the peculiar treasures of kings and provinces:
I procured me singing men and singing women,
And delights of the sons of men,
A butler and female cupbearers.
[9] So I became great,
And advanced beyond all
That were before me in Jerusalem:
Also my wisdom was established to me.
[10] And whatever mine eyes desired,
I withheld not from them,
I withheld not my heart
From all my mirth:
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And this was my portion
Of all my labor.
[11] And I looked on all my works
Which my hands had wrought,
And on my labor which I labored to perform:
And, behold, all was vanity and waywardness of spirit,
And there is no advantage under the sun.
[12] Then I looked on to see wisdom,
And madness, and folly:
For who is the man who will follow after counsel,
In all things wherein he employs it?
[13] And I saw that wisdom excels folly,
As much as light excels darkness.
[14] The wise man’s eyes are in his head;
But the fool walks in darkness:
And I perceived, even I,
That one event shall happen to them all.
[15] And I said in my heart,
As the event of the fool is,
So shall it be to me, even to me;
And to what purpose have I gained wisdom?
I said moreover in my heart,
This is also vanity,
Because the fool speaks of his abundance.
[16] For there is no remembrance of the wise man
With the fool forever;
Forasmuch as now in the coming days
All things are forgotten:
And how shall the wise man die with the fool?
[17] So I hated life;
Because the work that was wrought under the sun
Was evil before me:
For all is vanity and waywardness of spirit.
[18] And I hated the whole of my labor
Which I took under the sun;
Because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
[19] And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?
And whether he will have power over all my labor
In which I labored, and wherein I grew wise under the sun?
This is also vanity.
[20] So I went about to dismiss from my heart
All my labor wherein I had labored under the sun.
[21] For there is such a man that his labor
Is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in fortitude;
Yet this man shall give his portion
To one who has not labored therein.
This is also vanity and great evil.
[22] For it happens to a man in all his labor,
And in the purpose of his heart
Wherein he labors under the sun.
[23] For all his days
Are days of sorrows, and vexation of spirit is his;
In the night also his heart rests not.
This is also vanity.
[24] A man has nothing really good
To eat, and to drink, and to show his soul
As good in his trouble.
This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
[25] For who shall eat, or who shall drink, without him?
[26] For God has given to the man
Who is good in his sight,
Wisdom, and knowledge, and joy:
But he has given to the sinner trouble,
To add and to heap up,
That he may give to him that is good before God;
For this is also vanity and waywardness of spirit.
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