{"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/ylt/ecclesiastes/2","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-05-26T22:56:25.986Z"},"reference":{"translation":"YLT","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, 'Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it is vanity."},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"Of laughter I said, 'Foolish!' and of mirth, 'What is this it is doing?'"},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"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 is this — the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives."},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards."},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit."},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees."},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"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."},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"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."},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"And I became great, and increased above every one who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me."},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"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,"},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"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 is vanity and vexation of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!"},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"And I turned to see wisdom, and madness, and folly, but what is the man who cometh after the king? that which is already — they have done it!"},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness."},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"The wise! — his eyes are in his head, and the fool in darkness is walking, and I also knew that one event happeneth with them all;"},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"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 is vanity:"},{"verseNumber":16,"text":"That there is no remembrance to the wise — with the fool — to the age, for that which is already, in the days that are coming is all forgotten, and how dieth the wise? with the fool!"},{"verseNumber":17,"text":"And I have hated life, for sad to me is the work that hath been done under the sun, for the whole is vanity and vexation of spirit."},{"verseNumber":18,"text":"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."},{"verseNumber":19,"text":"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 is vanity."},{"verseNumber":20,"text":"And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour that I laboured at under the sun."},{"verseNumber":21,"text":"For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity, and to a man who hath not laboured therein he giveth it — his portion! Even this is vanity and a great evil."},{"verseNumber":22,"text":"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?"},{"verseNumber":23,"text":"For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart hath not lain down; this also is vanity."},{"verseNumber":24,"text":"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 is from the hand of God."},{"verseNumber":25,"text":"For who eateth and who hasteth out more than I?"},{"verseNumber":26,"text":"For to a man who is 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 is vanity and vexation of spirit."}],"citation":{"inline":"Ecclesiastes 2 (YLT)","markdown":"[Ecclesiastes 2](https://primebible.com/ylt/ecclesiastes/2)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* YLT. https://primebible.com/ylt/ecclesiastes/2 (accessed 2026-05-26)."}}