Parallel Verses
Youngs Literal Translation
I said in my heart, 'Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it is vanity.
New American Standard Bible
I said
King James Version
I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
Holman Bible
I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure;
International Standard Version
I told myself, "I will test you with pleasure, so enjoy yourself." But this was pointless.
A Conservative Version
I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And, behold, this also was vanity.
American Standard Version
I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.
Amplified
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure and gratification; so enjoy yourself and have a good time.” But behold, this too was vanity (futility, meaninglessness).
Bible in Basic English
I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.
Darby Translation
I said in my heart, Come now, I will try thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. But behold, this also is vanity.
Julia Smith Translation
I Said in my heart, Go now, I will prove thee with gladness, and look thou upon good: and behold, this also vanity.
King James 2000
I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
Lexham Expanded Bible
I said {to myself}, "Come! I will test pleasure {to see whether it is worthwhile}." But look, "This also [is] vanity!"
Modern King James verseion
I said in my heart, Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore consider and behold goodness; this also is vanity.
Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale
Then said I thus in my heart, "Now go to, I will take mine ease and have good days." But lo, that was vanity also:
NET Bible
I thought to myself, "Come now, I will try self-indulgent pleasure to see if it is worthwhile." But I found that it also is futile.
New Heart English Bible
I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;" and behold, this also was vanity.
The Emphasized Bible
Said, I, in my heart, Come now! I will prove thee with gladness, and look thou on blessedness, - but lo! even that, was vanity.
Webster
I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and behold, this also is vanity.
World English Bible
I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;" and behold, this also was vanity.
Themes
worldly Amusements and pleasures » The wicked seek for happiness in
Amusements and worldly pleasures » The wicked seek for happiness in
Emptiness » Emptiness or vanity of the worldly life (ps 3911; 629)
Epicureans » Worldly pleasure sought by the epicureans as the chief aim of life
Epicureans » Doctrines propagated by, familiar to solomon
Happiness » Of the wicked » Is vain
Interlinear
Leb
References
Word Count of 20 Translations in Ecclesiastes 2:1
Verse Info
Context Readings
Qohelet's Investigation Of Self-Indulgence
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?'
Names
Cross References
Ecclesiastes 8:15
And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to him under the sun.
Luke 12:19
and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many good things laid up for many years, be resting, eat, drink, be merry.
Genesis 11:3-4
and they say each one to his neighbour, 'Give help, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly:' and the brick is to them for stone, and the bitumen hath been to them for mortar.
Genesis 11:7
Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.'
2 Kings 5:5
And the king of Aram saith, 'Go thou, enter, and I send a letter unto the king of Israel;' and he goeth and taketh in his hand ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of garments.
Psalm 10:6
He hath said in his heart, 'I am not moved,' To generation and generation not in evil.
Psalm 14:1
To the Overseer. -- By David. A fool hath said in his heart, 'God is not;' They have done corruptly, They have done abominable actions, There is not a doer of good.
Psalm 27:8
To Thee said my heart 'They sought my face, Thy face, O Jehovah, I seek.'
Psalm 30:6-7
And I -- I have said in mine ease, 'I am not moved -- to the age.
Ecclesiastes 1:16-17
I -- I spake with my heart, saying, 'I, lo, I have magnified and added wisdom above every one who hath been before me at Jerusalem, and my heart hath seen abundantly wisdom and knowledge.
Ecclesiastes 2:15
and I said in my heart, 'As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?' And I spake in my heart, that also this is vanity:
Ecclesiastes 3:17-18
I said in my heart, 'The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time is to every matter and for every work there.'
Ecclesiastes 7:4
The heart of the wise is in a house of mourning, And the heart of fools in a house of mirth.
Ecclesiastes 11:9
Rejoice, O young man, in thy childhood, And let thy heart gladden thee in days of thy youth, And walk in the ways of thy heart, And in the sight of thine eyes, And know thou that for all these, Doth God bring thee into judgment.
Isaiah 5:5
And now, pray, let me cause you to know, That which I am doing to my vineyard, To turn aside its hedge, And it hath been for consumption, To break down its wall, And it hath been for a treading-place.
Isaiah 50:5
The Lord Jehovah opened for me the ear, And I rebelled not -- backward I moved not.
Isaiah 50:11
Lo, all ye kindling a fire, girding on sparks, Walk ye in the light of your fire, And in the sparks ye have caused to burn, From my hand hath this been to you, In grief ye lie down!
Luke 16:19
And -- a certain man was rich, and was clothed in purple and fine linen, making merry sumptuously every day,
Luke 16:23
and in the hades having lifted up his eyes, being in torments, he doth see Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom,
Titus 3:3
for we were once -- also we -- thoughtless, disobedient, led astray, serving desires and pleasures manifold, in malice and envy living, odious -- hating one another;
James 4:13
Go, now, ye who are saying, 'To-day and to-morrow we will go on to such a city, and will pass there one year, and traffic, and make gain;'
James 5:1
Go, now, ye rich! weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon you;
James 5:5
ye did live in luxury upon the earth, and were wanton; ye did nourish your hearts, as in a day of slaughter;
Revelation 18:7-8
'As much as she did glorify herself and did revel, so much torment and sorrow give to her, because in her heart she saith, I sit a queen, and a widow I am not, and sorrow I shall not see;