Ecclesiastes 2:4-18

4I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards.

5I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees.

6I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves.

7I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me.

8I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!

9So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me.

10Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors.

11But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.

12So I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness (for who can do this better than I, the king?).

13I thought, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.

14For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate.

15Both will die. So I said to myself, “Since I will end up the same as the fool, what’s the value of all my wisdom? This is all so meaningless!”

16For the wise and the foolish both die. The wise will not be remembered any longer than the fool. In the days to come, both will be forgotten.

17So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

18I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned.