Ecclesiastes 2
2
The Vanity of Pleasure
1And I said in my heart, “Come, and I will test you with selfish pleasures; enjoy your desires.” # Ecc 8:15; Lk 12:19; 1Co 15:22 And notice that this too is vanity. 2And I said of frivolous fun, # Pr 14:13; Ecc 7:6 “They are only senseless ideas,” and regarding selfish pleasure, “What purpose is this?” 3I investigated how to cheer up my body with wine, # Pr 20:1 while my heart was still guiding me with wisdom, in order to grasp folly, # Ecc 1:17 until I might experience what is good for people to do under heaven during the number of days that they might have life.
4I accomplished great works. I built houses for myself # 1Ki 7:1–12 and planted vineyards for myself. 5I made myself royal gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6I made myself pools of water # Ne 2:14 to irrigate the forests of growing trees. 7I even bought male and female slaves, and some were born in my house. I also had a great number of livestock, cattle, and sheep, more than there had been before in Jerusalem. 8I also gathered for myself silver and gold # 1Ki 9:28 and precious possessions of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, # 2Sa 19:35 and the sensual delights of any human being, even a harem of many concubines. # 1Ki 11:1–3 9I became great and surpassed anyone who had been in Jerusalem before me. # 1Ch 29:25; Ecc 1:16 Also my wisdom remained with me.
10Everything my eyes wanted, I did not refuse them.
I did not withhold my heart from any selfish pleasure,
for my heart was glad of all my efforts;
and this was my reward for all my efforts. # Ecc 3:22; 5:18
11Then I turned to all the work that my hands had done,
and all the labor in which I had toiled doing it;
and again, all of it was vanity and chasing the wind,
and there was no benefit under the sun. # Ecc 1:3, 14
The Vanity of Wisdom and Folly
12Then I turned to observe wisdom,
the folly of ideas, and foolish behavior. # Ecc 1:17; 7:25
For what else can a person do who comes after the king?
Only what has already been done.
13Then I saw that there is more benefit in wisdom # Ecc 7:11–12 than in foolishness,
more benefit in light than in darkness.
14A wise man has eyes in his head,
but the fool continues in darkness. # Pr 17:24
Moreover, I experienced
that each one experiences the same event—death. # Ps 49:10; Ecc 3:19
15Then I said in my heart,
“The same event that befalls the fool will also befall me.
So to what advantage is my wisdom?” # Ecc 6:8
Then I said to myself,
“This also is vanity.”
16For there is no lasting remembrance # Ecc 1:11; 9:5 of the wise or the fool,
seeing that in the coming days everyone will have been forgotten.
How the wise dies just like the fool!
The Vanity of Labor
17So I began to hate life, because the labor that was done under the sun was contemptible to me, for all of this is vanity and a chasing after wind. # Ecc 2:11 18I despised all the toil in which I labored under the sun, which I will give up to the man who comes after me. # Ps 39:6 19And who knows if this man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will gain power over all for which I have toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20So I turned to give my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun. 21For there is a person who labors with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet to a person who did not labor for this, he leaves it as his inheritance. This also is vanity and a great distress. 22What becomes a man for all his labor and striving in his heart with which he toils under the sun? # Ecc 1:3; 3:9 23All his days are sorrowful, # Job 5:7; 14:1 and his work is a vexation. Even at night his heart finds no rest. This also is vanity.
24There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink, and make his life see the good in his labor. # Ecc 3:12–13, 22 This I have seen is from the hand of God. 25For who can even eat or have enjoyment more than I? # 2:25 Some Hb and Gk texts, apart from Him. 26To the person who is pleasing before Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the one who sins, He gives the task to gather and collect, # Job 27:16–17 to give to the other person who is pleasing before God. # Pr 13:22 This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
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Ecclesiastes 2: MEV
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version
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