Ecclesiastes 2:1-3
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?” 3 I 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.
Ecclesiastes 2:1-3
Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Emptiness of Pleasure
2 I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure;(A) enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile. 2 I said about laughter,(B) “It is madness,” and about pleasure, “What does this accomplish?” 3 I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life[a] with wine(C) and how to grasp folly(D)—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven[b] during the few days of their lives.(E)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 2:3 Lit to pull my body
- Ecclesiastes 2:3 Two Hb mss, LXX, Syr read the sun
Ecclesiastes 2:1-3
King James Version
2 I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
3 I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
Read full chapterHoly Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.