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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Ecclesiastes 2 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ecclesiastes/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ecclesiastes/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Ecclesiastes 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ecclesiastes/1.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 1">◄</a> Ecclesiastes 2 <a href="../ecclesiastes/3.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/ecclesiastes/2.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Pleasures Are Meaningless</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.">a</a></sup></span> as well—the delights of a man’s heart. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.</p> <div class="stanza"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;</p><p class="line2">I refused my heart no pleasure.</p><p class="line1">My heart took delight in all my labor,</p><p class="line2">and this was the reward for all my toil.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done</p><p class="line2">and what I had toiled to achieve,</p><p class="line1">everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;</p><p class="line2">nothing was gained under the sun.</p></div> <p class="sectionhead">Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,</p><p class="line2">and also madness and folly.</p><p class="line1">What more can the king’s successor do</p><p class="line2">than what has already been done?</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>I saw that wisdom is better than folly,</p><p class="line2">just as light is better than darkness.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>The wise have eyes in their heads,</p><p class="line2">while the fool walks in the darkness;</p><p class="line1">but I came to realize</p><p class="line2">that the same fate overtakes them both.</p></div> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Then I said to myself,</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.</p><p class="line2">What then do I gain by being wise?”</p><p class="line1">I said to myself,</p><p class="line2">“This too is meaningless.”</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;</p><p class="line2">the days have already come when both have been forgotten.</p><p class="line1">Like the fool, the wise too must die!</p></div> <p class="sectionhead">Toil Is Meaningless</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/2-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">8</span> <span class="footnotebot">The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.</span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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