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2:1  And I said in my heart, “Come, and I will test you with selfish pleasures to experience desires.” And notice that this too is vanity.
2:2  And I said of frivolous fun, “They are only senseless ideas”; and regarding selfish pleasure, “What purpose is this?”
2:3  I investigated how to cheer up my body with wine, while my heart was still guiding me with wisdom, in order to grasp folly until I might experience what is good for sons of men to do under heaven during the number of days that they might have life.
2:4  I accomplished great works. I built houses for myself, and planted myself vineyards.
2:5  I made for myself royal gardens and parks, and I planted in them all sorts of fruit trees.
2:6  I made for myself pools of water to irrigate the forests of growing trees.
2:7  I even bought male and female slaves; even some were born to me in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks more than any who had been in Jerusalem before me.
2:8  I also gathered for myself silver and gold and treasures of kings and provinces. I obtained singers, both men and women, and the delights of the sons of men, and many concubines.
2:9  So I became great and surpassed anyone who had been in Jerusalem before me. All the while my wisdom remained with me.
2:10  And everything that my eyes wanted I did not refuse them. And I did not withhold my heart from any selfish pleasure, for my heart was glad from all my efforts; and this was my reward for all my efforts.
2:11  Then I turned to all the work that my hands had designed and all the labor that I had toiled to make; and notice, all of it was vanity and chasing the wind. And there was no benefit under the sun.
2:12  So I turned to consider wisdom, the folly of ideas, and foolish behavior; for what else can a man do who comes after the king? Or what more than those have already done?
2:13  Then I saw that there is more benefit in wisdom than in foolishness, more benefit in light than in darkness.
2:14  A wise man has eyes in his head so he sees where he walks, but the fool continues in darkness. Yet I perceived that the same fate overtakes them all.
2:15  Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. So to what advantage is my wisdom?” Then I said to myself, “This also is vanity.”
2:16  For there is no lasting memory for the wise or the fool, by which in the coming days everyone will be forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!
2:17  And I began to hate life for the labor that was done under the sun was contemptible to me, for all of this was vanity and chasing the wind.
2:18  And I despised all the toil in which I labored under the sun, which I will give up to the man who comes after me.
2:19  And who knows if this man will be wise or a fool? Yet he will gain power over every labor that I have toiled and my use of wisdom under the sun. Also this is vanity.
2:20  So I turned to give my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun.
2:21  For there is a man who labors with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet to a man who did not labor for this, he leaves it as his inheritance. This also is vanity and a great distress.
2:22  For what becomes of a man with all his labor and with the striving in his heart that he toils under the sun?
2:23  For all his days are sorrowful, and his work is a vexation; even at night his heart finds no rest. Also this is fleeting.
2:24  There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his labor. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God.
2:25  For who can even eat or have enjoyment more so than I?
2:26  For to a man who is pleasing before Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting to give him who is pleasing before God. Also this is vanity and chasing the wind.