Ecclesiastes Chapter 2

         2^:1I said to myself, “Try pleasure; enjoy yourself.” That turned out to have no purpose either. ² Laughing’s silly and pleasure’s pointless. ³ I cast in my mind how to cheer myself up with wine and embrace foolishness while thinking wisely. 

            I tried to find out what’s worth doing under the sky during the few years we’re alive. ⁴ I undertook big projects:

                  I built houses for myself;

                  I planted vineyards for myself;

                  ⁵ I made gardens and parks for myself,

                        planted all kinds of fruit trees in them,

                        ⁶ and built ponds to irrigate the trees;

                  ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had home-born slaves;

                  I owned bigger flocks and herds than anyone before me in Jerusalem;

                  ⁸ I collected silver and gold and the treasure from kings and provinces;

I provided for myself male and female singers and lots of concubines—men’s pleasure.   

⁹ So I became great and surpassed everybody before me in Jerusalem, as my wisdom stayed with me. ¹⁰ I took whatever I saw that I wanted. I didn’t deprive myself of any pleasure because I was pleased with my work and pleasure was my reward for it. ¹¹ Then I looked at what I’d done and the effort I’d put into doing it. It was pointless, like chasing the wind. I hadn’t gained anything under the sun.

Eccl 2:1-11

¹² So I compared wisdom to madness and fun; who can have more of that than a king? ¹³ I saw that wisdom excels fun as much as light excels darkness. ¹⁴ The wise can see where they’re going, but the foolish walk around in the dark; yet both share the same fate. ¹⁵ I said, “The fate of a fool will come to me too; so what’s the point of being wise?” ¹⁶ There’s no more lasting memory of the wise than of the foolish. Later on, everybody will fade from memory. The wise and the foolish both die! ¹⁷ So I despised life because my work under the sun brought me grief. Everything’s pointless, like chasing the wind.

Eccl 2:12-17

¹⁸ So I despised everything I’d worked for under the sun because I’ll have to leave it to other people. ¹⁹ Who knows if they’ll be wise or foolish? Yet they’ll control everything I worked for in wisdom under the sun. It’s pointless. ²⁰ So I let myself despair over everything I worked for under the sun. ²¹ After people labor with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, they have to leave it to somebody that didn’t work for it. It’s pointless, a great misfortune. ²² What do people get out of their hard work and striving under the sun? ²³ Their whole life is painful and grievous. Even at night their mind doesn’t rest. It’s all so pointless.

²⁴ There’s nothing better than to eat and drink and get satisfaction out of your work. I’ve seen even that comes from God; ²⁵ apart from him, who can eat and enjoy anything? ²⁶ He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the ones he considers good. He gives sinners the job of accumulating wealth to give to the ones he considers good. That’s pointless too, like chasing the wind.                                         

Eccl 2:18-26