The Vanity of Self-Indulgence
1
I 1said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity.
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I 2said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?"
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I 3searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine--my heart still guiding me with wisdom--and how to lay hold on 4folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.
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I made myself 7gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
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I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.
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I bought male and female slaves, and had 8slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of 9herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
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I also gathered for myself silver and 10gold and the treasure of 11kings and 12provinces. I got 13singers, both men and women, and many 14concubines,a the delight of the children of man.
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So I became great and 15surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my 16wisdom remained with me.
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And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart 17found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my 18reward for all my toil.
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Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was 19vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing 20to be gained under the sun.
The Vanity of Living Wisely
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21So I turned to consider 22wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only 23what has already been done.
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Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.
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24The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the 25same event happens to all of them.
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Then I said in my heart, 26"What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?" And I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
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For of the wise as of the fool there is 27no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. 28How the wise dies just like the fool!
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So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for 29all is vanity and a striving after wind.
The Vanity of Toil
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I hated 30all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must 31leave it to the man who will come after me,
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and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
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So I 32turned about and gave my heart up to despair 33over all the toil of my labors under the sun,
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because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
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What has a man from 34all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
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For 35all his days are full of sorrow, and his 36work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
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37There is nothing better for a person than that he should 38eat and drink and find enjoymentb in his toil. This also, I saw, is 39from the hand of God,
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for apart from himc who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)