I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; {Or, and thou shall enjoy}therefore enjoy {Or, good}pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.
I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it?
I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet {Or, holding its course}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 {Hebrew: the number of days of their life.}all the days of their life.
I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards;
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared;
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;
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, {Or, concubines very many The meaning of the Hebrew is very uncertain.}musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom {Or, stood by me}remained with me.
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.
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.
And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh {Or, after the king, even him whom they made king long ago? Or, after the king in those things which have been already done?}after the king? even that which hath been done long ago.
Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun.
For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with {Or, success}skilfulness; yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he {Hebrew: give.}leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
For what hath a man of all his labor, and of the {Or, vexation}striving of his heart, wherein he laboreth under the sun?
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.
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.
For who can eat, or who can {Or, hasten thereto}have enjoyment, {According to Septuagint Version and Syraic. apart from him.}more than I?
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.
Querverweise zu Prediger 2,4 Pred 2,4
And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
and over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite: and over the increase of the vineyards for the wine-cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite:
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument, unto this day.
And Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
And he built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle; in the lowland also, and in the {Or, table-land}plain: and he had husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains and in {Or, Carmel See 1 Samuel 25:2}the fruitful fields; for he loved husbandry.
The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?
For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof was a hundred cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.
My beloved is unto me as a cluster of {Hebrew: copher.}henna-flowersIn the vineyards of En-gedi.
And his house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch, was of the like work. He made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter (whom Solomon had taken to wife), like unto this porch.
All these were of costly stones, even of hewn stone, {Or, after divers measures}according to measure, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside unto the great court.
And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits.
And above were costly stones, even hewn stone, according to measure, and cedar-wood.
And the great court round about had three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams; {Or, both for…and for}like as the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and the porch of the house.
Let us get up early to the vineyards;Let us see whether the vine hath budded,And {Or, the tender grape appeareth}its blossom is open,And the pomegranates are in flower:There will I give thee my love.
And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all Solomon's {Or, delight}desire which he was pleased to do,
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;He let out the vineyard unto keepers;Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
{Or, Let there be}There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were {Or, arms Hebrew: hands.}stays on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays.
Let me sing {Or, of}for my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved had a vineyard in {Hebrew: a horn, the son of oil.}a very fruitful hill:
And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.
And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of Jehovah, and his own house,
that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there.
And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it.
And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store-cities, which he built in Hamath.
Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars;
and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that he had built for her; for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because {Hebrew: they are.}the places are holy, whereunto the ark of Jehovah hath come.
Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever,And their dwelling-places to all generations;They call their lands after their own names.