Ecclesiastes 2:7-22

⁷I got men-servants and women-servants, and they gave birth to sons and daughters in my house. I had great wealth of herds and flocks, more than all who were in Jerusalem before me.

⁸I got together silver and gold and the wealth of kings and of countries. I got makers of song, male and female; and the delights of the sons of men — girls of all sorts to be my brides.

⁹And I became great; increasing more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem, and my wisdom was still with me.

¹⁰And nothing which was desired by my eyes did I keep from them; I did not keep any joy from my heart, because my heart took pleasure in all my work, and this was my reward.

¹¹Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

¹²And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.

¹³Then I saw that wisdom is better than foolish ways — as the light is better than the dark.

¹⁴The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the foolish man goes walking in the dark; but still I saw that the same event comes to them all.

¹⁵Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.

¹⁶Of the wise man, as of the foolish man, there is no memory for ever, seeing that those who now are will have gone from memory in the days to come. See how death comes to the wise as to the foolish!

¹⁷So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

¹⁸Hate had I for all my work which I had done, because the man who comes after me will have its fruits.

¹⁹And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.

²⁰So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

²¹Because there is a man whose work has been done with wisdom, with knowledge, and with an expert hand; but one who has done nothing for it will have it for his heritage. This again is to no purpose and a great evil.

²²What does a man get for all his work, and for the weight of care with which he has done his work under the sun?