(KJV) Ecclesiastes 21

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⥃The Futility of Pleasure

[1] I said2 in mine heart, Go to3 now, I will4 prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity. [2] I said5 of laughter, [It is6] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? [3] I sought7 in mine heart to give myself unto wine8, yet9 acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay10 hold on folly, till11 I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all12 the days of their life. [4] I made13 me great works; I builded14 me houses; I planted15 me vineyards: [5] I made me16 gardens and orchards, and I planted17 trees in them of all [kind of] fruits: [6] I made me pools18 of water, to water19 therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: [7] I got [me] servants20 and maidens, and had21 servants born in my house22; also23 I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: [8] I gathered me also silver24 and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers25 and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments26, and that of all sorts. [9] So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.27 [10] And whatsoever28 mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced29 in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. [11] Then I looked30 on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold31, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.

⥃The Wise and the Foolish

[12] And I turned32 myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been already done. [13] Then I saw33 that wisdom excelleth folly34, as far as light35 excelleth darkness. [14] The wise36 man’s eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one37 event happeneth to them all. [15] Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me3839; and why was I then more wise? Then I40 said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity. [16] For [there is41] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how42 dieth the wise [man]? as the fool. [17] Therefore I hated43 life; because the work44 that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for45 all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

⥃The Futility of Work

[18] [¶]Yea, I hated46 all my labour which I had taken47 under the sun: because I should48 leave it unto the man that shall be after me. [19] And who knoweth49 whether he shall be a wise [man] or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under50 the sun. This [is] also vanity. [20] Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.51 [21] For there is a man whose52 labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave53 it [for] his portion. This also [is] vanity and a great evil. [22] For what hath man54 of all his labour, and of the55 vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? [23] For all56 his days [are] sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart57 taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

[24] [¶][There is] nothing58 better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good59 in his labour. This also I saw, that it60 [was] from the hand of God. [25] For who can61 eat, or who else can hasten [hereunto], more than I? [26] For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight62 wisdom63, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner64 he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to [him that is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

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  1. Eccl 2:1, The vanity of human courses in the works of pleasure; Eccl 2:12, Though the wise be better than the fool, yet both have one event; Eccl 2:18, The vanity of human labour, in leaving it they know not to whom; Eccl 2:24, Nothing better than joy in our labour; but that is God’s gift. ↩

  2. Eccl 2:15, Eccl 1:16-17, Eccl 3:17-18; Ps 10:6, Ps 14:1, Ps 27:8, Ps 30:6-7; Luke 12:19 ↩

  3. Gen 11:3-4, Gen 11:7; 2Kgs 5:5; Isa 5:5; Jas 4:13, Jas 5:1 ↩

  4. Eccl 8:15, Eccl 11:9; Isa 50:5, Isa 50:11; Luke 16:19, Luke 16:23; Jas 5:5; Titus 3:3; Rev 18:7-8 ↩

  5. Solomon is not speaking here of sober enjoyment of the things of the world, but of intemperate pleasure, whose two attendants, laughter and mirth, are introduced by a beautiful prosopopoeia, as two persons, whom he treats with the utmost contempt. ↩

  6. Eccl 7:2-6; Prov 14:13; Isa 22:12-13; Amos 6:3-6; 1Pet 4:2-4 ↩

  7. Eccl 1:17; 1Sam 25:36 ↩

  8. Heb. draw my flesh with wine ↩

  9. Prov 20:1, Prov 31:4-5; Eph 5:18 ↩

  10. Eccl 7:18; Prov 20:1, Prov 23:29-35; Matt 6:24; 2Cor 6:15-17 ↩

  11. Eccl 6:12, Eccl 12:13 ↩

  12. Heb. the number of, Gen 47:9; Job 14:14; Ps 90:9-12 ↩

  13. Gen 11:4; 2Sam 18:18; Dan 4:30 ↩

  14. Deut 8:12-14; 1Kgs 7:1-2, 1Kgs 7:8-12, 1Kgs 9:1, 1Kgs 15:19, 1Kgs 10:19-20; 2Chr 8:1-6, 2Chr 8:11; Ps 49:11 ↩

  15. 1Chr 27:27; 2Chr 26:10; Song 1:14, Song 7:12, Song 8:11-12; Isa 5:1 ↩

  16. Song 4:12-16, Song 5:1, Song 6:2; Jer 39:4 ↩

  17. Gen 2:8-9; Luke 17:27-29 ↩

  18. Neh 2:14; Song 7:4 ↩

  19. Ps 1:3; Jer 17:8 ↩

  20. 1Kgs 9:20-22; Ezra 2:58; Neh 7:57 ↩

  21. Gen 17:12-13 ↩

  22. Heb. sons of my house ↩

  23. Gen 13:2; 2Kgs 3:4; 1Chr 27:29-31; 2Chr 26:10, 2Chr 32:27-29; Job 1:3, Job 42:12 ↩

  24. 1Kgs 9:14, 1Kgs 9:28, 1Kgs 10:10, 1Kgs 14:21-22, 1Kgs 14:27; 2Chr 9:11, 2Chr 9:15-21 ↩

  25. 2Sam 19:35; Ezra 2:65 ↩

  26. etc. Heb. musical instrument and instruments, 1Chr 25:1, 1Chr 25:6; Job 21:11-12; Ps 150:3-5; Dan 3:5, Dan 3:7, Dan 3:15; Amos 6:5; The difficult words shiddah weshiddoth are variously rendered. The LXX have οινοχοον και οινοχοας, "male and female cup-bearers," with which the Syriac and Arabic and Parkhurst agree; Aquila, κυλικον και κυλικια, "a cup and smaller cups;" Jerome, scyphos et urceolos, Vulgate urceos), "goblets and pots;" Targum, "warm and cold baths;" others, as M. Desvoeux, "male and female captives;" others, "cooks and confectioners;" others, "a species of musical compositions," derived from Sido, a celebrated Phoenician woman, to whom Sanchoniatho attributes the invention of music; but others, with more probability, "wives and concubines;" and siddoth may be in this sense synonymous with the Arabic seedat, domina, conjux from sada, in Conj. V. conjugium inivit. Of the former, Solomon had three hundred, and of the latter, seven hundred; and if they are not mentioned here they are not mentioned at all, which is wholly unaccountable. ↩

  27. Eccl 1:16; 1Kgs 3:12, 1Kgs 10:7, 1Kgs 10:23; 1Chr 29:25; 2Chr 1:1, 2Chr 9:22-23 ↩

  28. Eccl 3:22, Eccl 6:9, Eccl 11:9; Gen 3:6, Gen 6:2; Judg 14:2; Job 31:1; Ps 119:37; Prov 23:5; 1John 2:16 ↩

  29. Eccl 2:22, Eccl 5:18, Eccl 9:9; Ps 128:2 ↩

  30. Eccl 1:14; Gen 1:31; Exod 39:43; 1John 2:16-17 ↩

  31. Eccl 2:17-23, Eccl 1:3, Eccl 1:14; Hab 2:13; 1Tim 6:6 ↩

  32. Eccl 1:17, Eccl 7:25, even that which hath already been done, or, in those things which have been already done, Eccl 2:25 ↩

  33. Eccl 7:11-12, Eccl 9:16; Prov 4:5-7, Prov 16:16; Mal 3:18, Mal 4:1-2 ↩

  34. Heb. that there is an excellency in wisdom more than in folly, etc ↩

  35. Eccl 11:7; Ps 119:105, Ps 119:130; Prov 4:18-19; Matt 6:23; Luke 11:34-35; Eph 5:8 ↩

  36. Eccl 8:1, Eccl 10:2-3; Prov 14:8, Prov 17:24; 1John 2:11 ↩

  37. Eccl 9:1-3, Eccl 9:11, Eccl 9:16; Ps 19:10, Ps 49:10 ↩

  38. Heb. to me ↩

  39. and why, Eccl 1:16, Eccl 1:18; 1Kgs 3:12 ↩

  40. Eccl 2:1, Eccl 1:2, Eccl 1:14 ↩

  41. Eccl 1:11; Exod 1:6, Exod 1:8; Ps 88:12, Ps 103:16; Mal 3:16 ↩

  42. Eccl 6:8; 2Sam 3:33; Ps 49:10; Heb 9:27 ↩

  43. Num 11:15; 1Kgs 19:4; Job 3:20-22, Job 7:15-16, Job 14:13; Jer 20:14-18; Jonah 4:3, Jonah 4:8; Phil 1:23-25 ↩

  44. Eccl 1:14, Eccl 3:16; Ezek 3:14; Hab 1:3 ↩

  45. Eccl 2:11, Eccl 2:22, Eccl 6:9; Ps 89:47 ↩

  46. Eccl 2:4-9, Eccl 1:13, Eccl 4:3, Eccl 5:18, Eccl 9:9 ↩

  47. Heb. laboured ↩

  48. Eccl 2:26, Eccl 5:13-14; 1Kgs 11:11-13; Ps 17:14, Ps 39:6, Ps 49:10; Luke 12:20, Luke 16:27-28; Acts 20:29-30; 1Cor 3:10 ↩

  49. Eccl 3:22; 1Kgs 12:14-20, 1Kgs 14:25-28; 2Chr 10:13-16, 2Chr 12:9-10 ↩

  50. Eccl 9:13; Luke 16:8; Jas 1:17, Jas 3:17 ↩

  51. Gen 43:14; Job 17:11-15; Ps 39:6-7; 1Cor 15:19; 2Cor 1:8-10; 1Thess 3:3-4 ↩

  52. Eccl 2:17-18, Eccl 9:18; 2Chr 31:20-21, 2Chr 33:2-9, 2Chr 34:2, 2Chr 35:18, 2Chr 36:5-10; Jer 22:15, Jer 22:17 ↩

  53. Heb. give ↩

  54. Eccl 1:3, Eccl 3:9, Eccl 5:10-11, Eccl 5:17, Eccl 6:7-8, Eccl 8:15; Prov 16:26; 1Tim 6:8 ↩

  55. Eccl 4:6, Eccl 4:8; Ps 127:2; Matt 6:11, Matt 6:25, Matt 6:34, Matt 16:26; Luke 12:22, Luke 12:29; Phil 4:6; 1Pet 5:7 ↩

  56. Gen 47:9; Job 5:7, Job 14:1; Ps 90:7-10, Ps 90:15, Ps 127:2 ↩

  57. Eccl 5:12; Esth 6:1; Job 7:13-14; Ps 6:6-7, Ps 32:4, Ps 77:2-4; Dan 6:18; Acts 14:22 ↩

  58. Eccl 3:12-13, Eccl 3:22, Eccl 5:18, Eccl 8:15, Eccl 9:7-9, Eccl 11:9-10; Deut 12:12, Deut 12:18; Neh 8:10; Acts 14:17; 1Tim 6:17 ↩

  59. or, delight his senses ↩

  60. Eccl 3:13, Eccl 5:19, Eccl 6:2; Mal 2:2; Luke 12:19-20 ↩

  61. Eccl 2:1-12; 1Kgs 4:21-24 ↩

  62. Heb. before him, Gen 7:1; Luke 1:6 ↩

  63. 2Chr 31:20-21; Prov 3:13-18; Isa 3:10-11; John 16:24; Rom 14:17-18; 1Cor 1:30-31; Gal 5:22-23; Col 1:9-12, Col 3:16-17; Jas 3:17 ↩

  64. Job 27:16-17; Prov 13:22, Prov 28:8 ↩