4. I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards.
5. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees.
6. I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves.
7. I bought slaves, both men and women, and others were born into my household. I also owned large herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who had lived in Jerusalem before me.
8. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire!
9. So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me.
10. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors.
11. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.
12. So I decided to compare wisdom with foolishness and madness (for who can do this better than I, the king?).
13. I thought, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.
14. For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate.