Ecclesiastes 2

₁Then I thought: ‘I am going to have fun and enjoy myself.’ When I did that, I saw that that was also not as it should be. ₂I saw that it was foolish always to laugh and try to have fun. It does not always help to seek for pleasure. ₃Then I wanted to see what would happen if I drank a lot of wine and tried to be a fool, but I did not want to lose my wisdom. I wanted to find out what is good for people and what they should do while they live in this world.

₄Then I did some great things. I built houses for myself and I planted vineyards. ₅I made gardens and parks and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ₆I made dams to give water to all the small trees. ₇I bought slaves and slave girls and they had a lot of children. I bought a lot of sheep and goats until I had more than anyone who had ruled in Jerusalem before me. ₈I got silver and gold for myself and other things that kings and governors gave me. I got men and women to sing for me. I got everything that I could enjoy, and also a lot of women to sleep with me. ₉I became more important than anyone who had ruled before me in Jerusalem and I did not lose my wisdom. ₁₀I got everything that I wanted and I enjoyed everything that I wanted to enjoy. Everything I did pleased me because it was the reward for the work that I had done. ₁₁But when I thought about everything that I had done, I thought about all my hard work. And what did I find out? I saw that nothing is what it should be. All of it is useless. It is like trying to catch the wind. You can not win in this world.

₁₂I wanted to find out what it is like to have wisdom and what it is like to be a fool. I wanted to know if the king who would rule after me would be able to do something that I had not done. ₁₃I saw that it is better to be wise than to be a fool, the same as light is better than darkness. ₁₄If someone has wisdom, he can see what happens around him. A fool is like someone living in the darkness. But I have learned this lesson: The things that happen to one person happen to everyone. ₁₅I said to myself: ‘The things that happen to a fool will also happen to me. Did all my wisdom help me at all?’ No, it did not. And I saw that things were not as they should be, ₁₆because people will not remember a fool for a long time, but they will also not remember a wise man for a long time. They will forget him soon. Fools die and wise men also die. ₁₇That is why I started to hate life. The things people do in this world seem to be wrong because nothing is as it should be. People are trying to catch the wind.

₁₈I started to hate all my hard work in this world because after my life is over, someone will come and he will get everything that I have worked hard for. ₁₉And no one knows if that person will be wise or foolish. But he will do what he wants with all the things that I, as a wise man, have worked hard for in this world. Also this is not as it should be. ₂₀I became discouraged when I thought of all the hard work that I have done in this world. ₂₁Because someone works hard and he uses his wisdom, he knows what he is doing and he does it well, but then he must leave everything that he has to a person who has not worked for it. Also this is not as it should be. It is wrong. ₂₂What do you get for all your hard work in this world? What do you get for everything you wanted to do? ₂₃Every day you have a lot of trouble and pain. You don't enjoy anything that you do and you can not rest at night. Also this is not as it should be. ₂₄The best that you can do is to eat and drink and to enjoy the things that you have worked for. I saw that this is something that God gives us. ₂₅No person can eat and enjoy his food if God does not make it happen. ₂₆God gives wisdom to the people that He loves. He teaches them what to do and He helps them enjoy life. But God gives sinners the hard work to become rich and get a lot of things and then God gives those things to the people that He loves. Also this is not as it should be. It is useless, and it is like trying to catch the wind.