The Futility of Seeking Wisdom

¹² I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³ And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. ¹⁴ I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.^[a]

¹⁸ I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me; ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be a wise man 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 turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a man who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by a man who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from all the toil and strain with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For all his days are full of pain, and his work is a vexation; even in the night his mind does not rest. This also is vanity.

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³ One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or divider over you?” ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶ And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; ¹⁷ and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”