4I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards.5I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.6I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.7I 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.8I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a haremThe meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. as well—the delights of the heart of man.9I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

11Yet 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.

13I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.

14The wise man has eyes in his head,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.

15Then I thought in my heart,
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said in my heart,
“This too is meaningless.”

16For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
in days to come both will be forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise man too must die!

24A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?26To the man 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.