Ecclesiastes 2:3-17
New King James Version
3 (A)I searched in my heart how [a]to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was (B)good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.
4 I made my works great, I built myself (C)houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to [b]water the growing trees of the grove. 7 I acquired male and female servants, and had [c]servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8 (D)I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and [d]musical instruments of all kinds.
9 (E)So I became great and [e]excelled (F)more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,
For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;
And (G)this was my [f]reward from all my labor.
11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done
And on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was (H)vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun.
The End of the Wise and the Fool
12 Then I turned myself to consider wisdom (I)and madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?—
Only what he has already (J)done.
13 Then I saw that wisdom (K)excels folly
As light excels darkness.
14 (L)The wise man’s eyes are in his head,
But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That (M)the same event happens to them all.
15 So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,
“This also is vanity.”
16 For there is (N)no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!
17 Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 2:3 Lit. to draw my flesh
- Ecclesiastes 2:6 irrigate
- Ecclesiastes 2:7 Lit. sons of my house
- Ecclesiastes 2:8 Exact meaning unknown
- Ecclesiastes 2:9 Lit. increased
- Ecclesiastes 2:10 Lit. portion
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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