Ecclesiastes 2:1-8 Young's Literal Translation Of The Holy Bible (YLT98)

1. I said in my heart, `Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it [is] vanity.

2. Of laughter I said, `Foolish!' and of mirth, `What [is] this it is doing?'

3. I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite, (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly till that I see where [is] this--the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.

4. I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.

5. I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.

6. I made for me pools of water, to water from them a forest shooting forth trees.

7. I got men-servants, and maid-servants, and sons of the house were to me; also, I had much substance--herd and flock--above all who had been before me in Jerusalem.

8. I gathered for me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man-- a wife and wives.

Ecclesiastes 2