Ecclesiastes 2:13-26 ▼

13 And I saw that there is profit to wisdom above folly, like the profit of the light over the darkness.

14 The wise one, his eyes are in his head, and the fool is walking in the darkness. And I also knew of that event—the one that happens to all of them.

15 And I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, it will also happen to me. Then what is profit to me in being wise?” And I said in my heart, “This also is vapor.”

16 For there is no memory of the wise with the fool, forever, in that already in the days that are coming all will be forgotten. And how a wise one will die like the fool!

17 And I have hated this life, because the work was evil to me that was done under the sun—for all is vapor and a striving after the wind.

18 And I hated all my toil that I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? And he will rule over all my toil that I have toiled, and that I have done wisely, under the sun. This also is vapor.

20 And I turned around my heart to despair over all the toil that I have toiled under the sun.

21 For there is a man whose toil is with wisdom and with knowledge and with skill, and to a man not having toiled for it he must give his portion. This also is vapor and a great evil.

22 For what has been for the man for all his toil and for the striving of his heart, with which he toils under the sun?

23 For all his days are pains, and anger is his task; even in the night his heart will not find rest. This also is vapor.

24 Nothing is better for the man than to eat and drink, and his soul to see good in his toil. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God;

25 for who can eat, and who can enjoy, apart from Him?

26 For to the man who is good in His eyes, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; and to the sinner He gives the task to gather and to heap up, to give to the good before the face of God. This also is vapor, and a striving after the wind.