Monday in Season after Pentecost

Text not available in the Berean Standard Bible.

1Verse 1. I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile. 2Verse 2. I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?” 3Verse 3. I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly— my mind still guiding me with wisdom— until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. 4Verse 4. I expanded my pursuits. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. 5Verse 5. I made gardens and parks for myself, where I planted all kinds of fruit trees. 6Verse 6. I built reservoirs to water my groves of flourishing trees. 7Verse 7. I acquired menservants and maidservants, and servants were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me, 8Verse 8. and I accumulated for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered to myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men — many concubines. 9Verse 9. So I became great and surpassed all in Jerusalem who had preceded me; and my wisdom remained with me. 10Verse 10. Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure. For my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11Verse 11. Yet 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. 12Verse 12. Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished? 13Verse 13. And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness: 14Verse 14. The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both. 15Verse 15. So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile. 16Verse 16. For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool! 17Verse 17. So 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.