傳道書 第 2 章

I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; see what is good.” And behold, this too is vanity.

To laughter I said, “Madness,” and to mirth, “What is this you are doing?”

I examined in my heart how to draw my flesh to wine—while my heart still guided me in wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what is good for the sons of man to do under the sun for the number of the days of their life.

I made my works great: I built myself houses, I planted myself vineyards.

I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them every kind of fruit tree.

I made myself pools of water, to water from them a grove sprouting trees.

I acquired male and female slaves, and I had servants born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

I gathered for myself both silver and gold and the treasures of kings and of the provinces; I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of man—a cupbearer and female cupbearers.

So I became great and increased beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem; and my wisdom remained with me.

And all that my eyes asked I did not withhold from them; I did not keep my heart from any mirth, for my heart rejoiced in all my toil, and this was my portion from all my toil.

Then I looked on all my works that my hands had made, and on the toil I had toiled to do, and behold, all was vanity and a choice of wind, and there is no profit under the sun.

And I turned to look at wisdom and madness and folly; for what is the man who will come after the counsel, in all the things that he has already done?

And I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, as light has an advantage over darkness.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; yet I also knew that one and the same event will befall them all.

And I said in my heart, “As the event of the fool, so it will also befall me. Why then was I more wise?” Then I spoke excessively in my heart, for a fool speaks out of abundance. So this too is vanity.

For there is no remembrance of the wise man along with the fool forever, since in the days that are coming all things have already been forgotten. And how is it that the wise man dies along with the fool!

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was evil to me; for all is vanity and a choice of wind.

And I hated all my toil at which I toil under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will have authority over all my toil at which I toiled and in which I was wise under the sun. This too is vanity.

So I turned to make my heart renounce all the toil at which I had toiled under the sun.

For there is a man whose toil is in wisdom and in knowledge and in skill, yet to a man who has not toiled in it he must give his portion. This too is vanity and a great evil.

For what comes to a man in all his toil and in the choosing of his heart, at which he toils under the sun?

For all his days are of pains, and his distraction is of vexation; even at night his heart does not sleep. This too is vanity.

There is nothing good in a man—what he shall eat and what he shall drink and what he shall show his soul as good in his toil. And this too I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

For who shall eat and who shall spare, apart from him?

For to the man who is good before him he has given wisdom and knowledge and mirth; but to the sinner he has given the distraction of adding and gathering, to give to him who is good before God. For this too is vanity and a choice of wind.