So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem;(A) my wisdom also remained with me. 10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them.(B) I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.(C) 11 When I considered all that I had accomplished[a] and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind.(D) There was nothing to be gained under the sun.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 2:11 Lit all my works that my hands had done

I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem(A) before me.(B) In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
    I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
    and this was the reward for all my toil.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;(C)
    nothing was gained under the sun.(D)

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