I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world. God has laid a miserable fate upon us.

Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.

After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done. So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.

I used my wisdom to test all of this. I was determined to be wise, but it was beyond me.

But I devoted myself to knowledge and study; I was determined to find wisdom and the answers to my questions, and to learn how wicked and foolish stupidity is.

Put all things to the test: keep what is good

Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward.

Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind---of no use at all.