Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 2"

Ecclesiastes 2

YLT

NIV

1 I said in my heart, `Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it [is] vanity.
1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.
2 Of laughter I said, `Foolish!' and of mirth, `What [is] this it is doing?'
2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”
3 I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where [is] this -- the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
4 I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.
5 I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
6 I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.
6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.
7 I got men-servants, and maid-servants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance -- herd and flock -- above all who had been before me in Jerusalem.
7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
8 I gathered for me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man -- a wife and wives.
8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart.
9 And I became great, and increased above every one who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.
9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 And all that mine eyes asked I kept not back from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour, and this hath been my portion, from all my labour,
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.
11 and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labour that I have laboured to do, and lo, the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
12 And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what [is] the man who cometh after the king? that which [is] already -- they have done it!
12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?
13 And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.
13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise! -- his eyes [are] in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew that one event happeneth with them all;
14 The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.
15 and I said in my heart, `As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?' And I spake in my heart, that also this [is] vanity:
15 Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.”
16 That there is no remembrance to the wise -- with the fool -- to the age, for that which [is] already, [in] the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!
17 And I have hated life, for sad to me [is] the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
18 And I have hated all my labour that I labour at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.
18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.
19 And who knoweth whether he is wise or foolish? yet he doth rule over all my labour that I have laboured at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! this also [is] vanity.
19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
20 And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour that I laboured at under the sun.
20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man who hath not laboured therein he giveth it -- his portion! Even this [is] vanity and a great evil.
21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.
22 For what hath been to a man by all his labour, and by the thought of his heart that he laboured at under the sun?
22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart hath not lain down; this also [is] vanity.
23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
24 There is nothing good in a man who eateth, and hath drunk, and hath shewn his soul good in his labour. This also I have seen that it [is] from the hand of God.
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
25 For who eateth and who hasteth out more than I?
25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
26 For to a man who [is] good before Him, He hath given wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; and to a sinner He hath given travail, to gather and to heap up, to give to the good before God. Even this [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.
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