1 IxLuke 12:19 said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself. ” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 Iy[Prov. 14:13] said of laughter, “It is mad, ” and of pleasure, “What use is it? ” 3 Iz[ch. 1:17] searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold onach. 7:25 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. IbSee 1 Kgs. 7:1-12 built houses and plantedcSong 8:11 vineyards for myself. 5 I made myselfdSong 4:16; 5:1 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 hadeGen. 14:14; 15:3 slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions off[1 Kgs. 4:23] herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver andg1 Kgs. 9:28; 10:10, 14, 21 gold and the treasure ofh[1 Kgs. 4:21; 10:15] kings andi1 Kgs. 20:14; Ezek. 19:8 provinces. I gotj2 Sam. 19:35; 2 Chr. 35:25 singers, both men and women, and manyk1 Kgs. 11:3 concubines, the delight of the children of man.
9 So I became great andl1 Chr. 29:25; See ch. 1:16 surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also myl1 Chr. 29:25; See ch. 1:16 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 heartm[Prov. 8:31] found pleasure in all my toil, and this was mynch. 3:22; 5:18; 9:9 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 wasoSee ch. 1:14 vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothingpSee ch. 1:3 to be gained under the sun.
12 qch. 7:25 So I turned to considerrSee ch. 1:17 wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Onlysch. 1:9, 10 what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 t[Prov. 17:24] The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that theuch. 3:19; 9:2, 3; Ps. 49:10 same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart,v[ver. 16; ch. 6:8] “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise? ” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there iswch. 1:11; See ch. 9:5 no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten.xSee ver. 14 How the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, foro[See ver. 11 above] all is vanity and a striving after wind.
18 I hatedych. 1:3 all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I mustzPs. 39:6; 49:10 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 Iach. 7:25 turned about and gave my heart up to despairbch. 1:3 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 fromcSee ch. 1:3 all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 FordJob 5:7; 14:1 all his days are full of sorrow, and hiseSee ch. 1:13 work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
24 fch. 3:12, 13, 22; 5:18; 8:15; [1 Tim. 6:17] There is nothing better for a person than that he shouldg[ch. 9:7; Luke 12:19; 1 Cor. 15:32] eat and drink and find enjoyment1Or and make his soul see good in his toil. This also, I saw, ish[ch. 3:13; 5:19] from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases himiJob 32:8 God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has givene[See ver. 7 above] the business of gathering and collecting,j[Job 27:16, 17; Prov. 13:22] only to give to one who pleases God.kSee ch. 1:14 This also is vanity and a striving after wind.