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2:1  I said in mine lev, Come now, I will test thee with simchah, therefore enjoy tov; and, hinei, this also is hevel.
2:2  I said of laughter, It is mad; and of simchah, What doeth it accomplish?
2:3  I searched in mine lev to draw my basar on with yayin, my mind guiding me with chochmah; and to lay hold on sichlut (folly), till I might see what was tov for bnei haAdam, which they should do under Shomayim all the few days of their life.
2:4  I undertook me great works; I built me batim (houses); I planted me kramim (vineyards);
2:5  I made me ganot (gardens) and parks, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them;
2:6  I made me reservoirs of mayim, to water therewith the forest of trees tzomeiach (sprouting up);
2:7  I bought me avadim and shfakhot, and had bnei bayit (avadim born in my bais); also I had great possessions of herds and tzon more than all that were in Yerushalayim before me;
2:8  I amassed for me also kesef and zahav, and the treasure of melachim and of the provinces; I acquired for me men singers and women singers, and the delights of bnei haAdam, musical instruments of all kinds.
2:9  So I was great, and excelled more than all that were before me in Yerushalayim; also my chochmah remained with me.
2:10  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my lev from any simchah; for my lev rejoiced in all my amal (labor); and this was my chelek (portion) for all my amal.
2:11  Then I looked on kol ma’asim that my hands had wrought, and on the amal that I had labored to do; and, hinei, all was hevel and chasing after ruach, and there was no profit under the shemesh.
2:12  And I turned myself to consider chochmah, and holelot, and sichlut; for what can the adam do who cometh after HaMelech? Even that which hath been done already.
2:13  Then I saw that chochmah excelleth sichlut, as far as ohr excelleth choshech.
2:14  The chacham (wise man) hath eyes in his rosh; but the kesil (fool) walketh in choshech; but I myself perceived also that the same mikreh (fortune) happeneth to them all.
2:15  Then said I in my lev, As the mikreh befalls the kesil, so also will the same mikreh befall me; and wherein have I then been of more chochmah? Then I said in my lev, This also is hevel.
2:16  For no zichron (remembrance) of the chacham—-no less the kesil—remains l’olam; seeing that in hayamim haba’im (the days to come) all shall be forgotten. How can the chacham die just like the kesil?
2:17  Therefore I hated HaChayyim (Life); because the ma’aseh that is wrought under the shemesh is grievous unto me; for all is hevel and chasing after ruach.
2:18  Yea, I hated all my amal for which I had toiled under the shemesh; because I must leave it unto the adam that shall occupy my place after me.
2:19  And who hath da’as whether he shall be a chacham or a kesil? Nevertheless shall he have shlitah (control, authority) over all my amal for which I have toiled, and have poured out my chochmah under the shemesh. This also is hevel.
2:20  Therefore I turned aside to give up my lev to despair over all the wearisome amal with which I toiled under the shemesh.
2:21  For there is an adam whose amal is with chochmah, and da’as, and kishron (skill); yet to an adam that hath not worked for it he must leave it for his chelek. This also is hevel and a ra’ah rabbah.
2:22  For what hath adam for all his amal, and for all the striving of his lev, wherein he hath labored under the shemesh?
2:23  For all his yamim are machovim (sorrows), and his travail ka’as (grief, vexation); yea, his lev taketh not rest balailah. This also is hevel.
2:24  There is nothing better for adam, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his nefesh find satisfaction in his amal. Also this I saw; even this was from the Yad HaElohim.
2:25  For who can eat, or who can find enjoyment without Hashem?
2:26  For to the adam that is pleasing in His sight, Hashem gives chochmah, and da’as, and simchah; but to the choteh (sinner) Hashem giveth travail; Hashem giveth the work of gathering and storing up, that Hashem may give to him that pleases HaElohim. This also is hevel and chasing after ruach.