Ecclesiastes 2:1-5

New International Version

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?” ³I 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.

⁴I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself^(E) and planted vineyards.^(F) ⁵I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

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Ecclesiastes 2:11-17

New International Version

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;^(A)
nothing was gained under the sun.^(B)

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹²Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
    and also madness and folly.^(C)
What more can the king’s successor do
    than what has already been done?^(D)
¹³I saw that wisdom^(E) is better than folly,^(F)
    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.^(G)

¹⁵Then I said to myself,

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