Ecclesiastes 2:1

¹⁹I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’

¹⁵Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

^5[+] You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

⁸When you said, “Seek my face,” my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, LORD.”

¹Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

⁷However much she glorified herself and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ ⁸Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire, for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”

¹⁷I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” ¹⁸I said in my heart, “As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

³For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.