I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

I said to myself, “Look, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.”

I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

Surely, the practice of extortion turns a wise person into a fool, and a bribe destroys the mind.

All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night),