1 - I said in my heart, `Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it <FI>is<Fi> vanity.
2 - Of laughter I said, `Foolish!' and of mirth, `What <FI>is<Fi> this it is doing?'
3 - I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where <FI>is<Fi> this--the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
4 - I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.
5 - I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
6 - I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.
7 - I got men-servants, and maid-servants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance--herd and flock--above all who had been before me in Jerusalem.
8 - I gathered for me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man--a wife and wives.
9 - And I became great, and increased above every one who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.
10 - And all that mine eyes asked I kept not back from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labour, and this hath been my portion, from all my labour,
11 - and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labour that I have laboured to do, and lo, the whole <FI>is<Fi> vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
12 - And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what <FI>is<Fi> the man who cometh after the king? that which <FI>is<Fi> already--they have done it!
13 - And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.
14 - The wise! --his eyes <FI>are<Fi> in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew that one event happeneth with them all;
15 - and I said in my heart, `As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?' And I spake in my heart, that also this <FI>is<Fi> vanity:
16 - That there is no remembrance to the wise--with the fool--to the age, for that which <FI>is<Fi> already, <FI>in<Fi> the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!
17 - And I have hated life, for sad to me <FI>is<Fi> the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole <FI>is<Fi> vanity and vexation of spirit.
18 - And I have hated all my labour that I labour at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.
19 - And who knoweth whether he is wise or foolish? yet he doth rule over all my labour that I have laboured at, and that I have done wisely under the sun! this also <FI>is<Fi> vanity.
20 - And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour that I laboured at under the sun.
21 - For there is a man whose labour <FI>is<Fi> in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man who hath not laboured therein he giveth it--his portion! Even this <FI>is<Fi> vanity and a great evil.
22 - For what hath been to a man by all his labour, and by the thought of his heart that he laboured at under the sun?
23 - For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart hath not lain down; this also <FI>is<Fi> vanity.
24 - There is nothing good in a man who eateth, and hath drunk, and hath shewn his soul good in his labour. This also I have seen that it <FI>is<Fi> from the hand of God.
25 - For who eateth and who hasteth out more than I?
26 - For to a man who <FI>is<Fi> good before Him, He hath given wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; and to a sinner He hath given travail, to gather and to heap up, to give to the good before God. Even this <FI>is<Fi> vanity and vexation of spirit.
