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1 I said in my heart, Come on now, I will test you with pleasure, therefore have fun: but, see, this also [is] pointless.
2 I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of fun, What does it do?
3 I sought in my heart to give myself to wine, yet acquainting my heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on foolishness, till I might see what [was] good for the sons of men, what they should do under heaven all the days of their life.
4 I made myself great products; I built myself houses; I planted vineyards for myself:
5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kinds of] fruit:
 - WAY OF HEALTH
6 I made myself pools of water, to irrigate a forest that grows trees:
7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of large and small cattle totalling more than all that were in Jerusalem before me:
8 I gathered also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces: I acquired male and female singers, and the delights of the heart of man, a harem of concubines.
9 So I was great, and expanded beyond all that had been before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not deny them, I did not withhold my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in every labour: and this was my share of all my labour.
11 Then I looked at all the products that my hands had made, and on the work that I had laboured to do: and, see, all [was] pointless and grasping for the wind, and [there was] no gain under the sun.
 - BUSINESS BLESSING
12 And I turned myself to observe wisdom, and madness, and foolishness: for what could a man that succeeds the king do, that hasn't been done?
13 Then I saw that wisdom is better than foolishness, as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise man has his head screwed on right; whilst the fool walks in darkness: but I noticed that one fate awaits them all.
15 Then I said in my heart, What happens to the fool, happens to me as well; so why was I more wise then? So I said in my heart, that this also [is] pointless.
16 For the wise is remembered no more in the future than the fool; since what exists now will be forgotten in the future. And the wise man as well as the fool will die.
17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is carried out under the sun [is] grievous to me: for all [is] pointless and grasping for the wind.
18 Yes, I hated all the labour that I had carried out under the sun: because I must leave it to the man that will come after me.
19 And who knows whether he will be a wise [man] or a fool? yet he will have control over all the labour that I carried out, and in which I showed myself wise under the sun. This [is] also pointless.
20 Therefore my heart began to despair of all the labour that I carried out under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in skill; yet he will leave it as an inheritance to a man that has not worked for it. This also [is] pointless and a great calamity.
22 For what does man get for all his labour, and the striving of his heart, in which he has laboured under the sun?
23 For all his days [are] pain and suffering, his job is a grief; and his mind cannot rest at night. This is also pointless.
24 [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should express himself in satisfying work. I realized that this [was] from the hand of God.
25 For who can eat, or enjoy themselves apart from Him?
26 For [God] gives to a man that is pleasing to Him wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to the one that is pleasing to God. This also [is] pointless and grasping for the wind.