Study of Pleasure-seeking. 1I said in my heart,* “Come, now, let me try you with pleasure and the enjoyment of good things.” See, this too was vanity. 2Of laughter I said: “Mad!” and of mirth: “What good does this do?” 3Guided by wisdom,* I probed with my mind how to beguile my senses with wine and take up folly, until I should understand what is good for human beings to do under the heavens during the limited days of their lives.

4I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards; 5I made gardens and parks, and in them set out fruit trees of all sorts. 6And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water a flourishing woodland. 7I acquired male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasures of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and delights of men, many women.* 9I accumulated much more than all others before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom, too, stayed with me. 10Nothing that my eyes desired did I deny them, nor did I deprive myself of any joy; rather, my heart rejoiced in the fruit of all my toil. This was my share for all my toil. 11a But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the fruit of the toil for which I had toiled so much, see! all was vanity and a chase after wind. There is no profit under the sun. 12What about one who succeeds a king? He can do only what has already been done.*

Study of Wisdom and Folly. I went on to the consideration of wisdom, madness and folly. 13And I saw that wisdom has as much profit over folly as light has over darkness.

Yet I knew that the same lot befalls both.* b 15So I said in my heart, if the fool’s lot is to befall me also, why should I be wise? Where is the profit? And in my heart I decided that this too is vanity. 16c The wise person will have no more abiding remembrance than the fool; for in days to come both will have been forgotten. How is it that the wise person dies* like the fool! 17Therefore I detested life, since for me the work that is done under the sun is bad; for all is vanity and a chase after wind.