Ecclesiastes 2:11-3:15

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)

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷So 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.^(L) ¹⁸I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.^(M) ¹⁹And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(N) 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. ²⁰So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹For 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. ²²What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^(O) ²³All their days their work is grief and pain;^(P) even at night their minds do not rest.^(Q) This too is meaningless.

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

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time^(Y) for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,^(Z)
³    a time to kill^(AA) and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent^(AB) and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil?^(AC) ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.^(AD) ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time.^(AE) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom^(AF) what God has done from beginning to end.^(AG) ¹²I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³That each of them may eat and drink,^(AH) and find satisfaction^(AI) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.^(AJ) ¹⁴I 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.^(AK)