Ecclesiastes 2

¹⁹Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

¹⁵So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.

⁵You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter.

⁸My heart said, “Seek His face.” Your face, O Lord, I will seek.

⁶In prosperity I said, “I will never be shaken.”

⁷O Lord, You favored me; You made my mountain stand strong. When You hid Your face, I was dismayed.

¹³Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in sorrow.

²It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

³Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

²Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

³For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

³You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.

⁴You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

¹²On that day the Lord God of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.

¹³But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

¹⁷So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink,

⁵lest they drink and forget what is decreed, depriving all the oppressed of justice.

¹²For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

¹³When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.

⁹“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”

¹Solomon, however, took thirteen years to complete the construction of his entire palace.

²He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, with four rows of cedar pillars supporting the cedar beams.

¹¹Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her. For he said, “My wife must not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

¹Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own palace,

²Solomon rebuilt the cities Hiram had given him and settled Israelites there.

¹¹Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes.

¹Now when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all that he had desired to do,

¹I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

²My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.

²⁷People were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.

¹²My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

⁸And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

⁹Out of the ground the Lord God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

⁴When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and they went out along the route to the Arabah.

¹⁴Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to get through;

⁴Your neck is like a tower made of ivory; your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, facing toward Damascus.

³He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

⁸He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.

²⁷Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles.

²⁸He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain and new wine and oil, stalls for all kinds of livestock, and pens for the flocks.

²And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.

⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he would render to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.

²⁰As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)—

²¹their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

¹⁰Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

⁵⁸The temple servants and descendants of the servants of Solomon numbered 392 in all.

¹⁰Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again were spices in such abundance brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

²⁸They sailed to Ophir and imported gold from there—420 talents—and delivered it to Solomon.

³⁵I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is good and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or drinks? Can I still hear the voice of singing men and women? Why should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?

¹⁴The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents,

⁶All these were under the direction of their fathers for the music of the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the direction of the king.

³Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.

⁴Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.

²⁵The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal majesty such as had not been bestowed on any king in Israel before him.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

²³So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²²So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.

²³All the kings of the earth sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.

¹²behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been another like you, nor will there ever be.

⁷But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told to me. Your wisdom and prosperity have far exceeded the report I heard.

⁹Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.

¹⁸Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.

²²I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?

³⁷Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.

²For when you eat the fruit of your labor, blessings and prosperity will be yours.

²²For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?

¹⁴I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁶For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.

¹⁷The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

³What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?

³¹And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

⁴³And Moses inspected all the work and saw that they had accomplished it just as the Lord had commanded. So Moses blessed them.

⁶Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.

¹⁷So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.

²⁵I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.

⁹What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

¹¹Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good, and it benefits those who see the sun.

¹²For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

²³But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

⁷Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

¹⁸So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

³⁴Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body is full of darkness.

³⁵Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness.

¹⁰For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

²⁴Wisdom is the focus of the discerning, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

¹¹I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.

¹So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

²It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

¹¹But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

¹⁹For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.

⁸What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?

¹⁴I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁸For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.

¹²behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been another like you, nor will there ever be.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

²“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”

¹¹There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

¹⁶At that time those who feared the Lord spoke with one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the Lord and honored His name.

⁸Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

¹²Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

²⁷Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

¹¹Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

²So I admired the dead, who had already died, above the living, who are still alive.

⁸As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁴while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

¹⁵If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

²¹who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,

⁶Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

¹⁰For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

²⁷‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house,

²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

¹⁸Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.

¹⁴from such men, O Lord, by Your hand—from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.

²²I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

²⁵In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

²⁶He seized the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields that Solomon had made.

¹³I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:

¹⁷Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.

⁹So King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

¹⁰Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the care of the captains of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace.

³so that none of you would be shaken by these trials. For you know that we are destined for this.

⁴Indeed, when we were with you, we kept warning you that we would suffer persecution; and as you know, it has come to pass.

¹¹My days have passed; my plans are broken off—even the desires of my heart.

¹²They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.

⁶Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

⁷And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

¹⁴May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

¹⁹If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁸I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

¹⁵Does it make you a king to excel in cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, and so it went well with him.

²⁰So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the Lord his God.

²¹He acted with all his heart in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law and the commandments, in order to seek his God. And so he prospered.

¹⁸No such Passover had been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present, and the people of Jerusalem.

¹⁷“But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”

²In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.

³What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?

⁹What does the worker gain from his toil?

⁶Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and pursuit of the wind.

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.

¹“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

⁷Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

¹³When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

¹⁴then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,

²In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.

⁶I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

⁷My eyes fail from grief; they grow dim because of all my foes.

¹⁸Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him.

²²I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?

¹⁷Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

¹⁵So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live,

¹³and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God.

¹⁸Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.

¹⁹Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God.

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:

⁸Let your garments always be white, and never spare the oil for your head.

¹I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile.

²I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.

¹⁶Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,

¹⁷what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent.

⁸He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.

²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

¹⁰Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

¹¹Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

¹³Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding,

¹⁴for she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold.