Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 2

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 I thought to myself, 'Very wel , I wil try pleasure and see what enjoyment has to offer.' And this wasfutile too.	1 I said in my heart: I will go, and abound with delights, and enjoy good things. And I saw that this also was vanity.
2 This laughter, I reflected, is a madness, this pleasure no use at al .	2 Laughter I counted error: and to mirth I said: Why art thou vainly deceived?
3 I decided to hand my body over to drinking wine, my mind still guiding me in wisdom; I resolved toembrace folly, to discover the best way for people to spend their days under the sun.	3 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.
4 I worked on a grand scale: built myself palaces, planted vineyards;	4 I made me great works, I built me houses, and planted vineyards,
5 made myself gardens and orchards, planting every kind of fruit tree in them;	5 I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds,
6 had pools made for watering the young trees of my plantations.	6 And I made me ponds of water, to water therewith the wood of the young trees,
7 I bought slaves, male and female, had home-born slaves as wel ; herds and flocks I had too, more thananyone in Jerusalem before me.	7 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:
8 I amassed silver and gold, the treasures of kings and provinces; acquired singers, men and women,and every human luxury, chest upon chest of it.	8 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:
9 So I grew great, greater than anyone in Jerusalem before me; nor did my wisdom leave me.	9 And I surpassed in riches all that were before me in Jerusalem: my wisdom also remained with me.
10 I denied my eyes nothing that they desired, refused my heart no pleasure, for I found all my hard worka pleasure, such was the return for al my efforts.	10 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.
11 I then reflected on al that my hands had achieved and all the effort I had put into its achieving. Whatfutility it al was, what chasing after the wind! There is nothing to be gained under the sun.	11 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.
12 My reflections then turned to wisdom, stupidity and fol y. For instance, what can the successor of aking do? What has been done already.	12 I passed further to behold wisdom, and errors and folly, (What is man, said I, that he can follow the King his maker?)
13 More is to be gained from wisdom than from fol y, just as one gains more from light than fromdarkness; this, of course, I see:	13 And I saw that wisdom excelled folly, as much as light differeth from darkness.
14 The wise have their eyes open, the fool walks in the dark. No doubt! But I know, too, that one fateawaits them both.	14 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.
15 'Since the fool's fate', I thought to myself, 'will be my fate too, what is the point of my having beenwise?' I realised that this too is futile.	15 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.
16 For there is no lasting memory for the wise or the fool, and in the days to come both will be forgotten;the wise, no less than the fool, must die.	16 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.
17 Life I have come to hate, for what is done under the sun disgusts me, since al is futility and chasingafter the wind.	17 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.
18 All I have toiled for under the sun and now bequeath to my successor I have come to hate;	18 Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me,
19 who knows whether he wil be wise or a fool? Yet he wil be master of al the work into which I have putmy efforts and wisdom under the sun. That is futile too.	19 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?
20 I have come to despair of all the efforts I have expended under the sun.	20 Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring any more under the sun.
21 For here is one who has laboured wisely, skilfully and successful y and must leave what is his own tosomeone who has not toiled for it at al . This is futile too, and grossly unjust;	21 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.
22 for what does he gain for al the toil and strain that he has undergone under the sun-	22 For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he bath been tormented under the sun?
23 since his days are ful of sorrow, his work is ful of stress and even at night he has no peace of mind?This is futile too.	23 All his days axe full of sorrows and miseries, even in the night he doth not rest in mind: and is not this vanity?
24 There is no happiness except in eating and drinking, and in enjoying one's achievements; and I seethat this too comes from God's hand;	24 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.
25 for who would get anything to eat or drink, unless al this came from him?	25 Who shall so feast and abound with delights as I?
26 Wisdom, knowledge and joy, God gives to those who please him, but on the sinner he lays the task ofgathering and storing up for someone else who is pleasing to him. This too is futility and chasing after the wind.	26 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.