| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. | 1I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. |
| 2I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” | 2So I said, “Laughter is silly. What good does it do to seek pleasure?” |
| 3I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. | 3After much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine. And while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. |
| 4I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. | 4I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. |
| 5I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. | 5I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. |
| 6I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. | 6I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves. |
| 7I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. | 7I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me. |
| 8I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. | 8I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire! |
| 9So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. | 9So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. |
| 10And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. | 10Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. |
| 11Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. | 11But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. The Wise and the Foolish |
| 12So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. | 12So I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness (for who can do this better than I, the king? ). |
| 13Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. | 13I thought, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. |
| 14The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. | 14For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate. |
| 15Then I said in my heart, “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. | 15Both will die. So I said to myself, “Since I will end up the same as the fool, what’s the value of all my wisdom? This is all so meaningless!” |
| 16For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! | 16For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten. |
| 17So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. | 17So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind. The Futility of Work |
| 18I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, | 18I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned. |
| 19and 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. | 19And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How meaningless! |
| 20So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, | 20So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world. |
| 21because 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. | 21Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy. |
| 22What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? | 22So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? |
| 23For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity. | 23Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless. |
| 24There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, | 24So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. |
| 25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? | 25For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? |
| 26For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. | 26God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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