1I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove youⁱ with gladness, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity. 2I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of gladness, What does it? 3I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. 4I made me great works; I built me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits: 6I made me pools of water, to water with that the wood that brings forth trees: 7I got [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Yerushalayim [Foundation of Peace] before me: 8I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar (particular; special; one’s own) treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

9So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Yerushalayim [Foundation of Peace]: also my wisdom remained with me. 10And whatsoever my eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. 11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and anguish of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.

12And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that comes after the king? [even] that which has been already done. 13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness. 14The wise man's eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walks in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happens to them all. 15Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it happens even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity. 16For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dies the wise [man]? as the fool. 17Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and anguish of spirit.

18Yes, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. 19And who knows whether he shall be a wise [man] or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This [is] also vanity. 20Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. 21For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that has not laboured in it shall he leave it [for] his portion. This also [is] vanity and a great evil. 22For what has man of all his labour, and of the anguish of his heart, wherein he has laboured under the sun? 23For all his days [are] sorrows, and his travail grief; yes, his heart takes not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

24[There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God-Elohim (The Living Word) [The Many Powered]. 25For who can eat, or who else can hasten [hereunto], more than I? 26For [God-Elohim (The Living Word) [The Many Powered]] gives to a man that [is] good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to [him that is] good before God-Elohim (The Living Word) [The Many Powered]. This also [is] vanity and anguish of spirit.