Old Testament · Poetry and wisdom

Ecclesiastes chapter 2

I said to myself, “Come now, let me test you with — enjoy what is good.” But look, even that was .About laughter I said, “This is ,” and about pleasure, “What does this even accomplish?”I how to stimulate my body with wine — while still guiding myself with wisdom — and how to grab hold of foolishness, until I could see what was actually good for people to do during their few days of life.I took on . I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards for myself.I designed gardens and , and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.I made to water a forest of growing trees.I bought male and female , and had servants born in my household. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone before me in Jerusalem.I also gathered silver and gold for myself — the of kings and provinces. I got male and female singers, and what delights any man: .I became greater and wealthier than anyone before me in Jerusalem. And through it all, my stayed with me.Whatever my eyes wanted, I didn’t hold back. I didn’t deny my heart any pleasure. My heart found joy in all my hard work, and that was my for all my effort.Then I looked at everything my hands had done and all the effort I had poured into doing it — and look, it was all , like . There was nothing of under the sun.Then I turned to consider alongside and foolishness. After all, what can the next person who comes after the king do? Only what has already been done.And I saw that wisdom has an over foolishness, just like light has an advantage over darkness.The wise person has , but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also realized that the same overtakes them both.Then I thought to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me too. So what did I by being so wise?” And I said to myself, “This too is vapor.”Because the wise person, just like the fool, won’t be for long. In the days to come, everything will already be forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies just like the fool?So I life, because everything done under the sun was to me — because it’s all vapor, like chasing the wind.And I hated all the things I had under the sun, because I’ll have to leave them to whoever comes after me.And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they’ll have over everything I worked for and applied my wisdom to under the sun. This too is vapor.So I turned to over all the things I had worked so hard for under the sun.Because here’s a person who worked with wisdom, knowledge, and skill — and then they hand over their to someone who didn’t put in any of the effort. This too is vapor, and a .What does a person actually get from all their hard work and the of their heart — all that they exhaust themselves with under the sun?Because all their days are filled with , and their work is a source of . Even at night their mind won’t rest. This too is vapor.There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink and find in their own hard work. This too, I saw, comes from the hand of .Because who can eat and who can find apart from him?To the person who is , God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy. But to the one who keeps , he gives the task of — only to hand it over to the one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vapor, like chasing the wind.