Ecclesiastes 1:2; Ecclesiastes 1:12-13; Ecclesiastes 2:1; Ecclesiastes 2:3-6; Ecclesiastes 2:8-11

Ecclesiastes 1:2

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-13

12 I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem,

13 applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with.

Ecclesiastes 2:1

1 I said to myself, "Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself." But again, this also was vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:3-6

3 I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

4 I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself;

5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.

Ecclesiastes 2:8-11

8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.

9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me.

10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.