Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 2"

Ecclesiastes 2

Good News Translation GNT

1 I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too.

2 I discovered that laughter is foolish, that pleasure does you no good.

3 Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.

4 I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards.

5 I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them;

6 I dug ponds to irrigate them.

7 I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem.

8 I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want.

9 Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me.

10 Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward.

11 Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind - of no use at all.

12 After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done. So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.

13 Oh, I know, "Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.

14 The wise can see where they are going, and fools cannot." But I also know that the same fate is waiting for us all.

15 I thought to myself, "What happens to fools is going to happen to me, too. So what have I gained from being so wise?" "Nothing," I answered, "not a thing."

16 No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die - wise and foolish alike.

17 So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.

18 Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor,

19 and he might be wise, or he might be foolish - who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless.

20 So I came to regret that I had worked so hard.

21 You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right!

22 You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it?

23 As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless.

24 The best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God.

25 How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all?

26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.

World English Bible WEB

1 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;" and, behold, this also was vanity.

2 I said of laughter, "It is foolishness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"

3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.

4 I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.

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

6 I made myself pools of water, to water from it the forest where trees were reared.

7 I bought men-servants and maid-servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem;

8 I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men -- musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

9 So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.

10 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn't keep from them. I didn't withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.

11 Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king's successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.

14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness -- and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

15 Then said I in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?" Then said I in my heart that this also is vanity.

16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

17 So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

18 I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored therein. This also is vanity and a great evil.

22 For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

24 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

26 For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.