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. ⁶ I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and had ^(H)slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of ^(I)herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸ I also gathered for myself silver and ^(J)gold and the treasure of ^(K)kings and ^(L)provinces. I got ^(M)singers, both men and women, and many ^(N)concubines,^[b] the delight of the sons of man.

⁹ So I became great and ^(O)surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my ^(P)wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart ^(Q)found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ^(R)reward for all my toil. ¹¹ Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^(S)vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^(T)to be gained under the sun.

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸ I hated ^(A)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(B)leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise 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 ^(C)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(D)over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹ because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²² What has a man from ^(E)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³ For ^(F)all his days are full of sorrow, and his ^(G)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

^24 (H)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(I)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(J)from the hand of God, ²⁵ for apart from him^[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶ For to the one who pleases him ^(K)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(L)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(M)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(N)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

⁴ Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is ^(A)vanity^[a] and a striving after wind.

⁵ The fool ^(B)folds his hands and ^(C)eats his own flesh.

^6 (D)Better is a handful of ^(E)quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

^7 (F)Again, I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸ one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his ^(G)eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ^(H)“For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy ^(I)business.

¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. ¹¹ When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? ¹² Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

^13 (A)There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, ¹⁴ and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. ^15 (B)As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what ^(C)gain is there to him who ^(D)toils for the wind? ¹⁷ Moreover, all his days he ^(E)eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

¹⁸ Behold, what I have seen to be ^(F)good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his ^(G)lot. ¹⁹ Everyone also to whom ^(H)God has given ^(I)wealth and possessions ^(J)and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is ^(K)the gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

6 ^(L)There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: ² a man ^(M)to whom ^(N)God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he ^(O)lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God ^(P)does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;^[b] it is a grievous evil. ³ If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that ^(Q)the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's ^(R)good things, and he also has no ^(S)burial, I say that ^(T)a stillborn child is better off than he. ⁴ For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. ⁵ Moreover, it has not ^(U)seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds ^(V)rest rather than he. ⁶ Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy^[c] no good—do not all go to the one place?

Cast Your Bread upon the Waters

⁵ As you do not know the way ^(F)the spirit comes to ^(G)the bones in the womb^[a] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

⁶ In the morning sow your seed, and at evening ^(H)withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.