Ecclesiastes 1:12-3:15

English Standard Version

The Vanity of Wisdom

¹² I ^(A)the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ And I ^(B)applied my heart^[a] to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy ^(C)business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹⁴ I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is ^(D)vanity^[b] and a striving after wind.^[c]

¹⁶ I said in my heart, “I have acquired great ^(F)wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷ And I ^(G)applied my heart to know wisdom and to know ^(H)madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ^(I)a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

2 I ^(K)said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.^{[d] 2} I ^(L)said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³ I ^(M)searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^(N)folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴ I made great works. I ^(O)built houses and planted ^(P)vineyards for myself. ⁵ I made myself ^(Q)gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and had ^(R)slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of ^(S)herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and ^(T)gold and the treasure of ^(U)kings and ^(V)provinces. I got ^(W)singers, both men and women, and many ^(X)concubines,^[e] the delight of the sons of man.

⁹ So I became great and ^(Y)surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my ^(Z)wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart ^(AA)found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ^(AB)reward for all my toil. ¹¹ Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^(AC)vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^(AD)to be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

^12 (AE)So I turned to consider ^(AF)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^(AG)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 (AH)The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the ^(AI)same event happens to all of them. ¹⁵ Then I said in my heart, ^(AJ)“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 ^(AK)no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. ^(AL)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 ^(AM)all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸ I hated ^(AN)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(AO)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 ^(AP)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(AQ)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 ^(AR)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For ^(AS)all his days are full of sorrow, and his ^(AT)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

^24 (AU)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(AV)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[f] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(AW)from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him^[g] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the one who pleases him ^(AX)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(AY)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(AZ)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(BA)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

A Time for Everything

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

The God-Given Task

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

¹⁴ I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; ^(BW)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, ^(BX)already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God ^(BY)seeks what has been driven away.^[h]