Ecclesiastes 2:12-3:22

English Standard Version

The Vanity of Living Wisely

^12 (A)So I turned to consider ^(B)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^(C)what has already been done. ¹³ Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. ^14 (D)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^(E)same event happens to all of them. ¹⁵ Then I said in my heart, ^(F)“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. ¹⁶ For of the wise as of the fool there is ^(G)no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^(H)How the wise dies just like the fool! ¹⁷ So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for ^(I)all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸ I hated ^(J)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(K)leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰ So I ^(L)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(M)over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from ^(N)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For ^(O)all his days are full of sorrow, and his ^(P)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

^24 (Q)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(R)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(S)from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him^[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the one who pleases him ^(T)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(U)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(V)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(W)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season, and ^(X)a time for every matter under heaven:

The God-Given Task

⁹ What ^(AJ)gain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰ I have seen ^(AK)the business that ^(AL)God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹ He has ^(AM)made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot ^(AN)find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹² I perceived that there is ^(AO)nothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^(AP)do good as long as they live; ¹³ also ^(AQ)that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is ^(AR)God's gift to man.

¹⁴ I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; ^(AS)nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. ¹⁵ That which is, ^(AT)already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God ^(AU)seeks what has been driven away.^[c]

From Dust to Dust

¹⁶ Moreover, ^(AV)I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even ^(AW)there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. ¹⁷ I said in my heart, ^(AX)God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is ^(AY)a time for every matter and for every work. ¹⁸ I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but ^(AZ)beasts. ^19 (BA)For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.^{[d] 20} All go to one place. All are from ^(BB)the dust, and to dust all return. ²¹ Who knows whether ^(BC)the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? ²² So I saw that there is ^(BD)nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for ^(BE)that is his lot. Who can bring him to see ^(BF)what will be after him?