{ "apiVersion": "v1", "kind": "Chapter", "metadata": { "generated": "2026-08-22T14:14:13Z", "language": "en", "book": "ecclesiastes", "chapter": 2 }, "data": { "n": 2, "bookSlug": "ecclesiastes", "bookCode": "ECC", "refId": "", "title": "", "translation": null, "segments": [], "lines": [], "paragraphs": [{ "n": 1, "refId": "ECC-2:1", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.1", "text": "I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity." },{ "n": 2, "refId": "ECC-2:2", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.2", "text": "I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it?" },{ "n": 3, "refId": "ECC-2:3", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.3", "text": "I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding [me] with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their life." },{ "n": 4, "refId": "ECC-2:4", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.4", "text": "I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards;" },{ "n": 5, "refId": "ECC-2:5", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.5", "text": "I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;" },{ "n": 6, "refId": "ECC-2:6", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.6", "text": "I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared;" },{ "n": 7, "refId": "ECC-2:7", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.7", "text": "I bought men-servants and maid-servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all that were before me in Jerusalem;" },{ "n": 8, "refId": "ECC-2:8", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.8", "text": "I gathered me also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I gat me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, musical instruments, and that of all sorts." },{ "n": 9, "refId": "ECC-2:9", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.9", "text": "So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me." },{ "n": 10, "refId": "ECC-2:10", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.10", "text": "And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor; and this was my portion from all my labor." },{ "n": 11, "refId": "ECC-2:11", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.11", "text": "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun." },{ "n": 12, "refId": "ECC-2:12", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.12", "text": "And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been done long ago." },{ "n": 13, "refId": "ECC-2:13", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.13", "text": "Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness." },{ "n": 14, "refId": "ECC-2:14", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.14", "text": "The wise man`s eyes are in his head, and the fool walketh in darkness: and yet I perceived that one event happeneth to them all." },{ "n": 15, "refId": "ECC-2:15", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.15", "text": "Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then said I in my heart, that this also is vanity." },{ "n": 16, "refId": "ECC-2:16", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.16", "text": "For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance for ever; seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how doth the wise man die even as the fool!" },{ "n": 17, "refId": "ECC-2:17", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.17", "text": "So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind." },{ "n": 18, "refId": "ECC-2:18", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.18", "text": "And I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me." },{ "n": 19, "refId": "ECC-2:19", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.19", "text": "And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity." },{ "n": 20, "refId": "ECC-2:20", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.20", "text": "Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun." },{ "n": 21, "refId": "ECC-2:21", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.21", "text": "For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skilfulness; yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil." },{ "n": 22, "refId": "ECC-2:22", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.22", "text": "For what hath a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he laboreth under the sun?" },{ "n": 23, "refId": "ECC-2:23", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.23", "text": "For all his days are [but] sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity." },{ "n": 24, "refId": "ECC-2:24", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.24", "text": "There is nothing better for a man [than] that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God." },{ "n": 25, "refId": "ECC-2:25", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.25", "text": "For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?" },{ "n": 26, "refId": "ECC-2:26", "verseRef": "Eccl.2.26", "text": "For to the man that pleaseth him [God] giveth wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that pleaseth God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind." } ] }, "links": { "self": "/v1/library/books/ecclesiastes/chapters/2", "book": "/v1/library/books/ecclesiastes/", "chapters": "/v1/library/books/ecclesiastes/chapters/", "library": "/v1/library/", "schema": "/v1/schema/book/" } }