Pleasures Are Meaningless

2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure^(A) to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. ² “Laughter,”^(B) I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” ³ I tried cheering myself with wine,^(C) and embracing folly^(D)—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself^(E) and planted vineyards.^{(F) 5} I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves^(G) who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold^(H) for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces.^(I) I acquired male and female singers,^(J) and a harem^[a] as well—the delights of a man’s heart. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem^(K) before me.^(L) In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹⁵ Then I said to myself,

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷ So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^{(X) 18} I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.^{(Y) 19} And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(Z) Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. ²⁰ So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹ For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²² What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^{(AA) 23} All their days their work is grief and pain;^(AB) even at night their minds do not rest.^(AC) This too is meaningless.

²⁴ A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^(AD) and find satisfaction in their own toil.^(AE) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^{(AF) 25} for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?^{(AG) 26} To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^(AH) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^(AI) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^(AJ) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

A Time for Everything

⁹ What do workers gain from their toil?^{(E) 10} I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.^{(F) 11} He has made everything beautiful in its time.^(G) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom^(H) what God has done from beginning to end.^{(I) 12} I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink,^(J) and find satisfaction^(K) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.^{(L) 14} I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.^(M)

¹⁶ And I saw something else under the sun:

¹⁷ I said to myself,

¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.^{(R) 19} Surely the fate of human beings^(S) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰ All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.^{(T) 21} Who knows if the human spirit rises upward^(U) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²² So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,^(V) because that is their lot.^(W) For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Obey the King

² Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. ³ Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence.^(A) Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. ⁴ Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?^(B)”

⁹ All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own^[b] hurt. ¹⁰ Then too, I saw the wicked buried^(D)—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise^[c] in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

¹¹ When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. ¹² Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better^(E) with those who fear God,^(F) who are reverent before him.^{(G) 13} Yet because the wicked do not fear God,^(H) it will not go well with them, and their days^(I) will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹⁴ There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.^(J) This too, I say, is meaningless.^{(K) 15} So I commend the enjoyment of life^(L), because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink^(M) and be glad.^(N) Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

¹⁶ When I applied my mind to know wisdom^(O) and to observe the labor that is done on earth^(P)—people getting no sleep day or night— ¹⁷ then I saw all that God has done.^(Q) No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.^(R)