Ecclesiastes 2:4-17

New International Version

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

¹⁰I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
    I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
    and this was the reward for all my toil.
¹¹Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;^(I)
    nothing was gained under the sun.^(J)

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹²Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
    and also madness and folly.^(K)
What more can the king’s successor do
    than what has already been done?^(L)
¹³I saw that wisdom^(M) is better than folly,^(N)
    just as light is better than darkness.
¹⁴The wise have eyes in their heads,
    while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
    that the same fate overtakes them both.^(O)

¹⁵Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”^(P)
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
¹⁶For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;^(Q)
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.^(R)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!^(S)