Ecclesiastes 2:1

Bible in Basic English (1941)

I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Luke 12:19 : 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy.
  • Eccl 8:15 : 15 So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
  • Eccl 11:9 : 9 Have joy, O young man, while you are young; and let your heart be glad in the days of your strength, and go in the ways of your heart, and in the desire of your eyes; but be certain that for all these things God will be your judge.
  • Isa 5:5 : 5 And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it;
  • Isa 50:5 : 5 And I have not put myself against him, or let my heart be turned back from him.
  • Isa 50:11 : 11 See, all you who make a fire, arming yourselves with burning branches: go in the flame of your fire, and among the branches you have put a light to. This will you have from my hand, you will make your bed in sorrow.
  • Luke 16:19 : 19 Now there was a certain man of great wealth, who was dressed in fair clothing of purple and delicate linen, and was shining and glad every day.
  • Luke 16:23 : 23 And in hell, being in great pain, lifting up his eyes he saw Abraham, far away, and Lazarus on his breast.
  • Titus 3:3 : 3 For in the past we were foolish, hard in heart, turned from the true way, servants of evil desires and pleasures, living in bad feeling and envy, hated and hating one another.
  • Jas 4:13 : 13 How foolish it is to say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this town, and be there for a year and do business there and get wealth:
  • Jas 5:1 : 1 Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you.
  • Jas 5:5 : 5 You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction.
  • Rev 18:7-8 : 7 As she gave glory to herself, and became more evil in her ways, in the same measure give her pain and weeping: for she says in her heart, I am seated here a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see sorrow. 8 For this reason in one day will her troubles come, death and sorrow and need of food; and she will be completely burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who is her judge.
  • Gen 11:3-4 : 3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth. 4 And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.
  • Gen 11:7 : 7 Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.
  • 2 Kgs 5:5 : 5 So the king of Aram said, Go then; and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he went, taking with him ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
  • Ps 10:6 : 6 He has said in his heart, I will not be moved: through all generations I will never be in trouble.
  • Ps 14:1 : 1 <To the chief music-maker. Of David.> The foolish man has said in his heart, God will not do anything. They are unclean, they have done evil works; there is not one who does good.
  • Ps 27:8 : 8 When you said, Make search for my face, my heart said to you, For your face will I make my search.
  • Ps 30:6-7 : 6 When things went well for me I said, I will never be moved. 7 Lord, by your grace you have kept my mountain strong: when your face was turned from me I was troubled.
  • Eccl 1:16-17 : 16 I said to my heart, See, I have become great and am increased in wisdom more than any who were before me in Jerusalem--yes, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge. 17 And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.
  • Eccl 2:15 : 15 Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.
  • Eccl 3:17-18 : 17 I said in my heart, God will be judge of the good and of the bad; because a time for every purpose and for every work has been fixed by him. 18 I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, so that God may put them to the test and that they may see themselves as beasts.
  • Eccl 7:4 : 4 The hearts of the wise are in the house of weeping; but the hearts of the foolish are in the house of joy.

Similar Verses (AI)

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

  • Eccl 2:2-4
    3 verses
    87%

    2 Of laughing I said, It is foolish; and of joy--What use is it?

    3 I made a search with my heart to give pleasure to my flesh with wine, still guiding my heart with wisdom, and to go after foolish things, so that I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under the heavens all the days of their life.

    4 I undertook great works, building myself houses and planting vine-gardens.

  • Eccl 2:15
    83%

    15 Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 1:16-17
    2 verses
    81%

    16 I said to my heart, See, I have become great and am increased in wisdom more than any who were before me in Jerusalem--yes, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.

    17 And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.

  • Eccl 2:8-13
    6 verses
    81%

    8 I got together silver and gold and the wealth of kings and of countries. I got makers of song, male and female; and the delights of the sons of men--girls of all sorts to be my brides.

    9 And I became great; increasing more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem, and my wisdom was still with me.

    10 And nothing which was desired by my eyes did I keep from them; I did not keep any joy from my heart, because my heart took pleasure in all my work, and this was my reward.

    11 Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

    12 And I went again in search of wisdom and of foolish ways. What may the man do who comes after the king? The thing which he has done before.

    13 Then I saw that wisdom is better than foolish ways--as the light is better than the dark.

  • Eccl 1:1-3
    3 verses
    80%

    1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

    2 All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.

    3 What is a man profited by all his work which he does under the sun?

  • Eccl 8:14-16
    3 verses
    80%

    14 There is a thing which is to no purpose done on the earth: that there are good men to whom is given the same punishment as those who are evil, and there are evil men who get the reward of the good. I say that this again is to no purpose.

    15 So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

    16 When I gave my mind to the knowledge of wisdom and to seeing the business which is done on the earth (and there are those whose eyes see not sleep by day or by night),

  • Eccl 2:19-26
    8 verses
    79%

    19 And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.

    20 So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

    21 Because there is a man whose work has been done with wisdom, with knowledge, and with an expert hand; but one who has done nothing for it will have it for his heritage. This again is to no purpose and a great evil.

    22 What does a man get for all his work, and for the weight of care with which he has done his work under the sun?

    23 All his days are sorrow, and his work is full of grief. Even in the night his heart has no rest. This again is to no purpose.

    24 There is nothing better for a man than taking meat and drink, and having delight in his work. This again I saw was from the hand of God.

    25 Who may take food or have pleasure without him?

    26 To the man with whom he is pleased, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of getting goods together and storing up wealth, to give to him in whom God has pleasure. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    79%

    13 And I gave my heart to searching out in wisdom all things which are done under heaven: it is a hard thing which God has put on the sons of men to do.

    14 I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; all is to no purpose, and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 3:12
    78%

    12 I am certain that there is nothing better for a man than to be glad, and to do good while life is in him.

  • Eccl 7:25
    77%

    25 I gave my mind to knowledge and to searching for wisdom and the reason of things, and to the discovery that sin is foolish, and that to be foolish is to be without one's senses.

  • Eccl 3:22
    77%

    22 So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?

  • Eccl 2:17
    77%

    17 So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 12:8
    77%

    8 All things are to no purpose, says the Preacher, all is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 11:8-10
    3 verses
    76%

    8 But even if a man's life is long and he has joy in all his years, let him keep in mind the dark days, because they will be great in number. Whatever may come is to no purpose.

    9 Have joy, O young man, while you are young; and let your heart be glad in the days of your strength, and go in the ways of your heart, and in the desire of your eyes; but be certain that for all these things God will be your judge.

    10 So put away trouble from your heart, and sorrow from your flesh; because the early years and the best years are to no purpose.

  • Eccl 4:7
    76%

    7 Then I came back, and I saw an example of what is to no purpose under the sun.

  • Eccl 3:18
    76%

    18 I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, so that God may put them to the test and that they may see themselves as beasts.

  • Eccl 9:9
    75%

    9 Have joy with the woman of your love all the days of your foolish life which he gives you under the sun. Because that is your part in life and in your work which you do under the sun.

  • Eccl 6:9
    74%

    9 What the eyes see is better than the wandering of desire. This is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

  • Eccl 6:11
    74%

    11 There are words without number for increasing what is to no purpose, but what is man profited by them?

  • Prov 14:13
    73%

    13 Even while laughing the heart may be sad; and after joy comes sorrow.

  • Eccl 7:6
    73%

    6 Like the cracking of thorns under a pot, so is the laugh of a foolish man; and this again is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 7:4
    73%

    4 The hearts of the wise are in the house of weeping; but the hearts of the foolish are in the house of joy.

  • Eccl 4:4
    73%

    4 And I saw that the cause of all the work and of everything which is done well was man's envy of his neighbour. This again is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

  • Eccl 8:10
    73%

    10 And then I saw evil men put to rest, taken even from the holy place; and they went about and were praised in the town because of what they had done. This again is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 4:16
    72%

    16 There was no end of all the people, of all those whose head he was, but they who come later will have no delight in him. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 5:18
    72%

    18 Every man to whom God has given money and wealth and the power to have pleasure in it and to do his part and have joy in his work: this is given by God.

  • Eccl 3:10
    72%

    10 I saw the work which God has put on the sons of man.

  • Eccl 9:7
    72%

    7 Come, take your bread with joy, and your wine with a glad heart. God has taken pleasure in your works.