The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

2 I ^(A)said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.^{[a] 2} I ^(B)said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³ I ^(C)searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^(D)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 ^(E)built houses and planted ^(F)vineyards for myself. ⁵ I made myself ^(G)gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

¹¹ Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^(A)vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^(B)to be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

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