Ecclesiastes 2:1
Good News Translation
I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too.

New Revised Standard Version
I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity.

Contemporary English Version
I said to myself, "Have fun and enjoy yourself!" But this didn't make sense.

New American Bible
I said in my heart, “Come, now, let me try you with pleasure and the enjoyment of good things.” See, this too was vanity.

Douay-Rheims Bible
I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity.

said

Ecclesiastes 2:15 And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this also was vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:16,17 I have spoken in my heart, saying: Behold I am become great, and have gone beyond all in wisdom, that were before me in Jerusalem: and my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned. . . .

Ecclesiastes 3:17,18 And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing. . . .

Psalm 10:6 For he hath said in his heart: I shall not be moved from generation to generation, and shall be without evil.

Psalm 14:1 Unto the end, a psalm for David. The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God. They are corrupt, and are become abominable in their ways: there is none that doth good, no not one.

Psalm 27:8 My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek.

Psalm 30:6,7 And in my abundance I said: I shall never be moved. . . .

Luke 12:19 And I will say to my soul: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thy rest: eat, drink, make good cheer.

go to

Genesis 11:3,4,7 And each one said to his neighbour: Come let us make brick, and bake them with fire. And they had brick instead of stones, and slime instead of mortar: . . .

2 Kings 5:5 And the king of Syria said to him: Go; and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment;

Isaiah 5:5 And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.

James 4:13 But who art thou that judgest thy neighbour? Behold, now you that say: To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and there we will spend a year and will traffic and make our gain.

James 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men: weep and howl in your miseries, which shall come upon you.

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Ecclesiastes 8:15 Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart be in that which is good in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: and know that for all these God will bring thee into judgment.

Isaiah 50:5,11 The Lord God hath opened my ear, and I do not resist: I have not gone back. . . .

Luke 16:19,23 There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. . . .

James 5:5 You have feasted upon earth: and in riotousness you have nourished your hearts, in the day of slaughter.

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves also were some time unwise, incredulous, erring, slaves to divers desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

Revelation 18:7,8 As much as she hath glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her. Because she saith in her heart: I sit a queen and am no widow: and sorrow I shall not see. . . .

Context
The Futility of Pleasure
1I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity.2Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art thou vainly deceived?…
Cross References
Proverbs 14:13
Laughter shall be mingled with sorrow, and mourning taketh hold of the ends of joy.

Ecclesiastes 7:4
The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth.

Ecclesiastes 8:15
Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which God hath given him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:18
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