12 I ^othe Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I ^papplied my heart¹ to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy ^qbusiness that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is ^rvanity² and a striving after wind.³

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great ^twisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I ^uapplied my heart to know wisdom and to know ^vmadness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ^ra striving after wind.

1 I ^xsaid in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.⁴ 2 I ^ysaid of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3 I ^zsearched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^afolly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works. I ^bbuilt houses and planted ^cvineyards for myself. 5 I made myself ^dgardens 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. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had ^eslaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of ^fherds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and ^ggold and the treasure of ^hkings and ⁱprovinces. I got ^jsingers, both men and women, and many ^kconcubines,⁵ the delight of the sons of man.

9 So I became great and ^lsurpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my ^lwisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart ^mfound pleasure in all my toil, and this was my ⁿreward for all my toil. 11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ^ovanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing ^pto be gained under the sun.