CHAPTER 2

¹I said in my heart, “Come, now, let me pour out wine in merriment and enjoy good things.” And, look, this, too, is mere breath. ²To mirth I said, “Wild reveling,” and to merriment, “What does it do?” ³I sought in my heart to ply my body with wine, while my heart acted with wisdom, not grasping folly, until I might see what is good for the sons of man that they should do under the heavens in the number of the days of their lives. ⁴I made me great works. I built myself houses, I planted for myself vineyards. ⁵I made for myself gardens and orchards and planted in them every kind of fruit tree. ⁶I made for myself pools of water from which to water a wood growing trees. ⁷I bought male slaves and slavegirls, and had home-born slaves, too. Also many herds of cattle and sheep did I have, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I gathered for myself both silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got myself men and women singers and the pleasures of humankind, and many a concubine. ⁹And I grew great and added more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Still my wisdom stayed with me. ¹⁰And all that my eyes sought I did not withhold from them, nor did I deny my heart any merriment—for my heart was merry—from all my toil, and this was my share from all my toil. ¹¹And I turned about in all my deeds that my hands had done and in the toil that I had toiled to do, and, look, all was mere breath and herding the wind, and there was no gain under the sun. ¹²And I turned to see wisdom and revelry and folly, for what is the man ¹³who comes after the king, that which he has already done? And I saw that wisdom surpasses folly as light surpasses darkness. ¹⁴The wise man has eyes in his head, and the fool goes in darkness. Yet I, too, knew that a single fate befalls them all. ¹⁵And I said in my heart, “Like the fate of the fool, it will befall me, too, and so why have I become so wise?” And I said in my heart that this, too, is mere breath. ¹⁶For there is no remembrance of the wise, as with the fool, forever. Since in the days to come, all will be forgotten. Yes, the wise dies like the fool! ¹⁷And I hated life, for all that was done under the sun was evil to me, for all is mere breath and herding the wind. ¹⁸And I hated all things got from my toil that I had toiled under the sun, that I should leave it to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool, and he will have power over all that was got from my toil for which I toiled and grew wise under the sun. This, too, is mere breath. ²⁰And I turned round to make my heart despair over all the toil that I had toiled under the sun. ²¹For there is a man whose toil is in wisdom and knowledge and skill, and to a man who did not toil for it he will give away his share. This, too, is mere breath and a grievous evil. ²²For what does a man have from all his toil and from his heart’s care that he toils under the sun? ²³For all his days are pain, and worry is his business. At night, as well, his heart does not rest. This, too, is mere breath. ²⁴There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and sate himself with good things through his toil. This, too, have I seen, for it is from God’s hand. ²⁵For who will eat and who will feel, save me? ²⁶For to the man who seems good before Him He has given wisdom and knowledge and merriment, but to the offender He has given the business of amassing and taking in to give to him who seems good before God. This, too, is mere breath and herding the wind.