Ecclesiastes 2:9-26

⁹I became great—greater than anyone in Jerusalem before me. All the while my wisdom stayed with me.

¹⁰I didn't stop myself trying anything I wanted. Whatever I felt like enjoying, I did. I even enjoyed everything I had accomplished, a reward for all my work.

¹¹But when I thought about what I had worked so hard to achieve, everything I'd done, it was so short-lived—as significant as someone trying to catch the wind. There really is no enduring benefit here on earth.

¹²So I started to think about wisdom—and madness and foolishness. For what can anyone who comes after the king do that hasn't already been done?

¹³I recognized that wisdom is better than foolishness just as light is better than darkness.

¹⁴The wise see where they're going, but fools walk in darkness. But I also realized that they all come to the same end.

¹⁵Then I thought to myself, “If I'm going to end up the same as a fool, what's the point of being so wise?” So I thought to myself, “This is also hard to understand!”

¹⁶Nobody remembers the wise or the fool for very long—in the future everything will be forgotten. Whether wise or foolish, they both die.

¹⁷So I ended up feeling disgusted with life because everything that happens here on earth is so distressing. It's so incomprehensible, like trying to control the wind.

¹⁸I even ended up hating what I had achieved here on earth because I have to hand it over to whoever comes after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will rule over everything I accomplished through my wisdom here on earth. This is just so frustrating, so hard to understand!

²⁰I decided to give up, my mind in despair over the significance of all my life's achievements.

²¹For you can work wisely, knowledgably, and with skill—and who benefits? Someone who hasn't worked for it! This is both frustrating and totally unjust!

²²What do you get here on earth for all your hard work and worry?

²³Your working life is full of trouble and strife—even at night your thoughts keep you awake. This is tough to comprehend!

²⁴So what's the best thing to do? Eat, drink, and enjoy your work, recognizing as I did that these things are given to us by God,

²⁵for who can eat or enjoy life apart from him?

²⁶To those who are good, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy. But to the sinner God gives the task of gathering and collecting wealth, only to hand it over to someone who pleases God. This also shows how fleeting life is, and hard to understand—like trying to understand how the wind blows.