¹I said in my heart , “Come now , I will test you with mirth ; therefore enjoy pleasure ;” and behold , this also was vanity .

²I said of laughter , “It is foolishness;” and of mirth , “What does it accomplish ?”

³I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine , my heart yet guiding me with wisdom , and how to lay hold of folly , until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives .

⁴I made myself great works . I built myself houses . I planted myself vineyards .

⁵I made myself gardens and parks , and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit .

⁶I made myself pools of water , to water the forest where trees were grown .

⁷I bought male servants and female servants , and had servants born in my house . I also had great possessions of herds and flocks , above all who were before me in Jerusalem .

⁸I also gathered silver and gold for myself , and the treasure of kings and of the provinces . I got myself male and female singers , and the delights of the sons of men : musical instruments of all sorts.

⁹So I was great , and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem . My wisdom also remained with me .

¹⁰Whatever my eyes desired , I didn’t keep from them . I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy , for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour , and this was my portion from all my labour .

¹¹Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked , and at the labour that I had laboured to do ; and behold , all was vanity and a chasing after wind , and there was no profit under the sun .

¹²I turned myself to consider wisdom , madness , and folly ; for what can the king ’s successor do ? Just that which has been done long ago.

¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly , as far as light excels darkness .

¹⁴The wise man ’s eyes are in his head , and the fool walks in darkness —and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all .

¹⁵Then I said in my heart , “As it happens to the fool , so will it happen even to me ; and why was I then more wise ?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity .

¹⁶For of the wise man , even as of the fool , there is no memory forever , since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten . Indeed , the wise man must die just like the fool !

¹⁷So I hated life , because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me ; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind .

¹⁸I hated all my labour in which I laboured under the sun , because I must leave it to the man who comes after me .

¹⁹Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool ? Yet he will have rule over all of my labour in which I have laboured , and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun . This also is vanity .

²⁰Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour in which I had laboured under the sun .

²¹For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom , with knowledge , and with skilfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not laboured for it . This also is vanity and a great evil .

²²For what does a man have of all his labour and of the striving of his heart , in which he labours under the sun ?

²³For all his days are sorrows , and his travail is grief ; yes , even in the night his heart takes no rest . This also is vanity .

²⁴There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink , and make his soul enjoy good in his labour . This also I saw , that it is from the hand of God .

²⁵For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment , more than I ?

²⁶For to the man who pleases him , God gives wisdom , knowledge , and joy ; but to the sinner he gives travail , to gather and to heap up , that he may give to him who pleases God . This also is vanity and a chasing after wind .