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¹ I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth. Therefore, consider with goodness. And behold, this also is vanity.² I said of laughter, It is madness, and of mirth, What does it do?³ I sought in my heart how to drag my flesh with wine, and leading my heart in wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, until I might see where the good for the sons of men is , that which they should do under the heavens the number ofdays of their life.⁴ I made my works great; I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself;⁵ I made gardens and parks for myself; and I planted trees in them of every fruit;⁶ I made pools of water for myself; to water from them the forest shooting forth trees;⁷ I bought slaves and slave girls, and the sons of the house were mine. Also livestock, a herd and a great flock were mine, above all that were before me in Jerusalem.⁸ I also gathered to me silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of provinces. I made ready male singers and female singers for myself; and the delights of the sons of men, a concubine, and concubines.⁹ And I became great and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom stayed with me.¹⁰ And all that my eyes desired, I did not set aside from them. I withheld not my heart from all joy; for my heart rejoiced from all my labor; and this was my part from all my labor.¹¹ Then I faced on all my works that my hands had done, and on the labor that I had labored to do. And, lo, all is vanity and striving after wind, and there is no profit under the sun.

¹² And I turned to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly. For what can a man do who comes after the king, when they have already done it?¹³ Then I saw that there is advantage to wisdom above folly, even as light has advantage over darkness.¹⁴ The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and I also know that one event happens with all of them.¹⁵ And I said in my heart, As the event of the stupid one, even so it will happen to me; and why then was I more wise? Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.¹⁶ For there is not a memory of the wise more than with the fool forever, in that already the days to come will be forgotten. And how does the wise die above the fool?

¹⁷ So then I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is evil to me; for all is vanity and striving after wind.¹⁸ Yes, I, a laborer, hated all my labor under the sun, that I must leave it to the man who will be after me.¹⁹ And who knows if he will be wise or a fool? Yet he shall rule among all my labor in which I labored, and acted wisely under the sun. This is also vanity.²⁰ And I turned to make my heart despair over all the labor which I labored under the sun.²¹ When there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with advantage; yet he shall give it to a man who has not labored with it, for his share; this also is vanity and a great evil.²² For what is there for man in all his labor, and in striving of his heart, which he did as a laborer under the sun?²³ For all his days are pains, and his task is grief; his heart does not even take rest in the night. Even this also is vanity.²⁴ Is it not good that he should eat and drink and make his soul see good in his labor? This I also saw, that it was from the hand of God.²⁵ For who can eat, or who can enjoy, apart from me?²⁶ For God gives wisdom, and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight. But to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and to heap up, to give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and striving after wind.