The Futility of Pleasure and Possessions

2 I said ^[a]to myself, “Come now, I will test you with ^(A)pleasure. So ^[b]enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility. ^2 (B)I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?” ³ I explored with my ^[c]mind how to ^(C)stimulate my body with wine while my ^[d]mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of ^(D)folly, until I could see ^(E)what good there is for the sons of men ^[e]to do under heaven the few ^[f]years of their lives. ⁴ I enlarged my works: I ^(F)built houses for myself, I planted ^(G)vineyards for myself; ⁵ I made ^(H)gardens and ^(I)parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

¹¹ Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had ^[a]exerted, and behold all was ^[b](A)vanity and striving after wind and there was ^(B)no profit under the sun.

Wisdom Excels Folly

¹² So I turned to ^(C)consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except ^(D)what has already been done? ¹³ And I saw that ^(E)wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. ¹⁴ The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the ^(F)fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that ^(G)one fate befalls them both. ¹⁵ Then I said ^[c]to myself, “^(H)As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. ^(I)Why then have I been extremely wise?” So ^[d]I said to myself, “This too is vanity.” ¹⁶ For there is ^(J)no ^[e]lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And ^(K)how the wise man and the fool alike die! ¹⁷ So I ^(L)hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was ^[f]grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.