Ecclesiastes 2:3

American Standard Version (1901)

I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet 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 all the days of their life.

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Referenced Verses

  • Prov 20:1 : 1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.
  • Eccl 1:17 : 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind.
  • Eccl 6:12 : 12 For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
  • Eccl 12:13 : 13 [This is] the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole [duty] of man.
  • Prov 31:4-5 : 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; Nor for princes [to say], Where is strong drink? 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the justice [due] to any that is afflicted.
  • Eph 5:18 : 18 And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;
  • Matt 6:24 : 24 No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
  • 2 Cor 6:15-17 : 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, And touch no unclean thing; And I will receive you,
  • Eccl 7:18 : 18 It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from that withdraw not thy hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth from them all.
  • Eccl 7:25 : 25 I turned about, and my heart [was set] to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness.
  • Eccl 2:24 : 24 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.
  • Eccl 3:12-13 : 12 I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live. 13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.
  • Prov 23:29-35 : 29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? Who hath complaining? who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, When it sparkleth in the cup, When it goeth down smoothly: 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, And stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, And thy heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, [shalt thou say], and I was not hurt; They have beaten me, and I felt it not: When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
  • Gen 47:9 : 9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
  • 1 Sam 25:36 : 36 And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
  • Job 14:14 : 14 If a man die, shall he live [again] ? All the days of my warfare would I wait, Till my release should come.
  • Ps 90:9-9 : 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger, And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee? 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 1:16-18
    3 verses
    83%

    16I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem; yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

    17And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind.

    18For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

  • Eccl 2:1-2
    2 verses
    83%

    1I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.

    2I said of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth it?

  • Eccl 7:25
    83%

    25I turned about, and my heart [was set] to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason [of things], and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness.

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    82%

    13And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

    14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

  • Eccl 2:4
    81%

    4I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards;

  • Eccl 2:8-17
    10 verses
    80%

    8I 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, musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

    9So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

    10And 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.

    11Then 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.

    12And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been done long ago.

    13Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

    14The 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.

    15Then 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.

    16For 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!

    17So 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.

  • Eccl 2:19-22
    4 verses
    79%

    19And 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.

    20Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun.

    21For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skilfulness; yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

    22For what hath a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, wherein he laboreth under the sun?

  • Eccl 8:15-17
    3 verses
    78%

    15Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that shall abide with him in his labor [all] the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun.

    16When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes), [

    17then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because however much a man labor to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea moreover, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

  • Eccl 2:24-26
    3 verses
    76%

    24There 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.

    25For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

    26For 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.

  • Eccl 3:12
    75%

    12I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good so long as they live.

  • Eccl 7:4
    74%

    4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

  • Eccl 3:18
    74%

    18I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts.

  • Eccl 3:22
    73%

    22Wherefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him [back] to see what shall be after him?

  • Eccl 9:13
    73%

    13I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:

  • Eccl 11:9
    73%

    9Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

  • Eccl 5:18
    72%

    18Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, wherein he laboreth under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is his portion.

  • Eccl 9:9-10
    2 verses
    72%

    9Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life of vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all thy days of vanity: for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labor wherein thou laborest under the sun.

    10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.

  • Eccl 9:1
    71%

    1For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.

  • Eccl 3:10
    71%

    10I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

  • Eccl 6:12
    71%

    12For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

  • Eccl 7:23
    71%

    23All this have I proved in wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.

  • Prov 20:1
    71%

    1Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.

  • Prov 31:6
    71%

    6Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, And wine unto the bitter in soul:

  • Prov 18:2
    71%

    2A fool hath no delight in understanding, But only that his heart may reveal itself.

  • Eccl 2:6
    71%

    6I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared;

  • Eccl 9:3
    71%

    3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.

  • Eccl 4:7
    71%

    7Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.

  • Eccl 1:3
    71%

    3What profit hath man of all his labor wherein he laboreth under the sun?

  • Prov 23:30
    71%

    30They that tarry long at the wine; They that go to seek out mixed wine.