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¹ I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and behold, this also [is] vanity.² I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?³ I sought in my heart, to give myself to wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.⁴ I made me great works; I built me houses; I planted me vineyards:⁵ I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits:⁶ I made me pools of water, to water with them the wood that bringeth forth trees:⁷ I procured [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:⁸ I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings, and of the provinces: I procured me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and of all sorts.⁹ So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.¹⁰ And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor.¹¹ Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.

¹² And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been already done.¹³ Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.¹⁴ The wise man's eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.¹⁵ Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity.¹⁶ For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool.

¹⁷ Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous to me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.¹⁸ Yes, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me.¹⁹ And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise [man] or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have showed myself wise under the sun. This [is] also vanity.²⁰ Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun.²¹ For there is a man whose labor is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not labored in it, shall he leave it [for] his portion. This also [is] vanity and a great evil.²² For what hath man of all his labor, and of the vexation of his heart, in which he hath labored under the sun?²³ For all his days [are] sorrows, and his labor grief; yes, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.²⁴ [There is] nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.²⁵ For who can eat, or who else can hasten [to it] more than I?²⁶ For [God] giveth to a man who [is] good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth toil, to gather, and to amass, that he may give to [him that is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.