Ecclesiastes

I said in my heart: “I will go forth, and I will abound in delights, and I will enjoy good things.” And I perceived that this, too, is emptiness.

Laughter, I considered an error; and to rejoicing, I said: “Why are you being deceived?”

I decided in my heart to withdraw my body from wine, so that I might present my mind to wisdom, and would turn away from foolishness, until I would see what would be useful for the sons of men, and what they ought to do under the sun, during the number of the days of their life.

I magnified my works. I built houses for myself, and I planted vineyards.

I made gardens and orchards, and I planted them with trees of every kind.

And I dug out ponds of water, to irrigate a forest of growing trees.

I obtained men and women servants, and I had a great family. Also, I had large herds, as well as many flocks of sheep, beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem.

I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and provinces. I appointed for myself men and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men: drinking cups and pitchers to serve wine.

And I surpassed in wealth all who were before me in Jerusalem. For, in addition, my wisdom remained with me.

And all that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. Neither did I prohibit my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and from taking delight in the things that I had prepared. And I considered this, as if it were my portion, to be used for myself.

But when I turned myself toward all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the labors in which I had perspired, I saw emptiness and an affliction of the spirit. Nothing is lasting under the sun.

I turned myself around, so as to contemplate wisdom, and errors, and foolishness. “For who,” I said, “is the man who can follow the wise choices of the Shepherd, beyond what I have done?”

And I realized that wisdom surpasses foolishness, just as light surpasses darkness.

The eyes of a wise man are in his head. A fool walks in darkness. Yet I have learned that one shall perish like the other.

And I said in my heart: “If the death of both the fool and myself will be the same, what does it profit me that I have given myself to the pursuit of wisdom more diligently?” And, as I was considering this in my mind, I perceived that this, too, is emptiness.

For there shall be no remembrance of the wise in the same manner as the foolish, in the future, and the days to come shall cover all things together with oblivion. The wise man dies in similar manner as the unwise.

And because of this, my life has wearied me, for I saw that all things under the sun are evil, and everything is emptiness and an affliction of the spirit.

Again, I detested all my efforts, by which I had earnestly labored under the sun, because I am to have an heir after me,

though I am not certain whether he will be wise or foolish. Yet he will have power over all my labors, in which I have toiled and been anxious. And is anything else so empty?

Therefore, I ceased, and my heart renounced further labor under the sun.

For when a man labors in wisdom, and doctrine, and prudence, he leaves what he has obtained to one who is idle. So this, too, is emptiness and a great burden.

For how does a man benefit from all his labor and affliction of spirit, by which he has been troubled under the sun?

All his days are filled with sorrows and hardships; moreover, even in the night, his heart does not rest. And is this not emptiness?

Is it not better to eat and drink, and to show his soul the good things of his labors? And this is from the hand of God.

So who will feast and enjoy good things more than I?

God has given a man affliction, so that he would be occupied with it, for the sake of his soul. But to the sinner, he has given affliction as a useless and wandering thing, so that he may add, and gather together, and deliver it to him who has pleased God. But this is also emptiness and an affliction of the spirit.