{"meta":{"source":"Prime Bible","sourceUrl":"https://primebible.com","license":"Public domain (translation text); see citation policy at /citation-policy","organization":"501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 41-2531951","canonicalUrl":"https://primebible.com/drb/ecclesiastes/2","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-05-29T22:35:30.879Z"},"reference":{"translation":"DRB","book":"Ecclesiastes","bookSlug":"ecclesiastes","chapter":2,"testament":"OLD"},"navigation":{"previousChapter":1,"nextChapter":3,"totalChapters":12,"totalVerses":26},"verses":[{"verseNumber":1,"text":"I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity. "},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art thou vainly deceived? "},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"I thought in my heart, to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I might turn my mind to wisdom, and might avoid folly, till I might see what was profitable for the children of men: and what they ought to do under the sun, all the days of their life. "},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"I made me great works, I built me houses, and planted vineyards, "},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds, "},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"And I made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of the young trees, "},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"I got me menservants, and maidservants, and had a great family: and herds of oxen, and great flocks of sheep, above all that were before me in Jerusalem: "},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing women, and the delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to serve to pour out wine: "},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"And I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Jerusalem: my wisdom also remained with me. "},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: and I withheld not my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the things which I had prepared: and esteemed this my portion, to make use of my own labour. "},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun. "},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I, that he can follow the King his maker?) "},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"And I saw that wisdom excelled folly, as much as light differeth from darkness. "},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"The eyes of a wise man are in his head: the fool walketh in darkness: and I learned that they were to die both alike. "},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"And I said in my heart: If the death of the fool and mine shall be one, what doth it avail me, that I have applied myself more to the study of wisdom? And speaking with my own mind, I perceived that this also was vanity. "},{"verseNumber":16,"text":"For there shall be no remembrance of the wise no more than of the fool for ever, and the times to come shall cover all things together with oblivion: the learned dieth in like manner as the unlearned. "},{"verseNumber":17,"text":"And therefore I was weary of my life, when I saw that all things under the sun are evil, and all vanity and vexation of spirit. "},{"verseNumber":18,"text":"Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me, "},{"verseNumber":19,"text":"Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and he shall have rule over all my labours with which I have laboured and been solicitous: and is there any thing so vain? "},{"verseNumber":20,"text":"Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring any more under the sun. "},{"verseNumber":21,"text":"For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this also is vanity, and a great evil. "},{"verseNumber":22,"text":"For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he bath been tormented under the sun? "},{"verseNumber":23,"text":"All his days axe full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity? "},{"verseNumber":24,"text":"Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God. "},{"verseNumber":25,"text":"Who shall so feast and abound with delights as I? "},{"verseNumber":26,"text":"God hath given to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that hath pleased God: but this also is vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind. "}],"citation":{"inline":"Ecclesiastes 2 (DRB)","markdown":"[Ecclesiastes 2](https://primebible.com/drb/ecclesiastes/2)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* DRB. https://primebible.com/drb/ecclesiastes/2 (accessed 2026-05-29)."}}