Ecclesiastes 2:3

Bible in Basic English (1941)

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.

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Referenced Verses

  • Prov 20:1 : 1 Wine makes men foolish, and strong drink makes men come to blows; and whoever comes into error through these is not wise.
  • Eccl 1:17 : 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 6:12 : 12 Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?
  • Eccl 12:13 : 13 This is the last word. All has been said. Have fear of God and keep his laws; because this is right for every man.
  • Prov 31:4-5 : 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to take wine, or for rulers to say, Where is strong drink? 5 For fear that through drinking they may come to have no respect for the law, wrongly judging the cause of those who are in trouble.
  • Eph 5:18 : 18 And do not take overmuch wine by which one may be overcome, but be full of the Spirit;
  • Matt 6:24 : 24 No man is able to be a servant to two masters: for he will have hate for the one and love for the other, or he will keep to one and have no respect for the other. You may not be servants of God and of wealth.
  • 2 Cor 6:15-17 : 15 And what agreement is there between Christ and the Evil One? or what part has one who has faith with one who has not? 16 And what agreement has the house of God with images? for we are a house of the living God; even as God has said, I will be living among them, and walking with them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people. 17 For which cause, Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and let no unclean thing come near you; and I will take you for myself,
  • Eccl 7:18 : 18 It is good to take this in your hand and not to keep your hand from that; he who has the fear of God will be free of the two.
  • Eccl 7:25 : 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 2:24 : 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.
  • Eccl 3:12-13 : 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. 13 And for every man to take food and drink, and have joy in all his work, is a reward from God.
  • Prov 23:29-35 : 29 Who says, Oh! who says, Ah! who has violent arguments, who has grief, who has wounds without cause, whose eyes are dark? 30 Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine. 31 Keep your eyes from looking on the wine when it is red, when its colour is bright in the cup, when it goes smoothly down: 32 In the end, its bite is like that of a snake, its wound like the wound of a poison-snake. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and you will say twisted things. 34 Yes, you will be like him who takes his rest on the sea, or on the top of a sail-support. 35 They have overcome me, you will say, and I have no pain; they gave me blows without my feeling them: when will I be awake from my wine? I will go after it again.
  • Gen 47:9 : 9 And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers.
  • 1 Sam 25:36 : 36 And Abigail went back to Nabal; and he was feasting in his house like a king; and Nabal's heart was full of joy, for he had taken much wine; so she said nothing to him till dawn came.
  • Job 14:14 : 14 If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free.
  • Ps 90:9-9 : 9 For all our days have gone by in your wrath; our years come to an end like a breath. 10 The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone. 11 Who has knowledge of the power of your wrath, or who takes note of the weight of your passion? 12 So give us knowledge of the number of our days, that we may get 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%

    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.

    18 Because in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.

  • Eccl 2:1-2
    2 verses
    83%

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

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

  • Eccl 7:25
    83%

    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 1:13-14
    2 verses
    82%

    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 2:4
    81%

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

  • Eccl 2:8-17
    10 verses
    80%

    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.

    14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the foolish man goes walking in the dark; but still I saw that the same event comes to them all.

    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.

    16 Of the wise man, as of the foolish man, there is no memory for ever, seeing that those who now are will have gone from memory in the days to come. See how death comes to the wise as to the foolish!

    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 2:19-22
    4 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?

  • Eccl 8:15-17
    3 verses
    78%

    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),

    17 Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

  • Eccl 2:24-26
    3 verses
    76%

    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 3:12
    75%

    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 7:4
    74%

    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 3:18
    74%

    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 3:22
    73%

    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 9:13
    73%

    13 This again I have seen under the sun as wisdom and it seemed great to me.

  • Eccl 11:9
    73%

    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.

  • 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 9:9-10
    2 verses
    72%

    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.

    10 Whatever comes to your hand to do with all your power, do it because there is no work, or thought, or knowledge, or wisdom in the place of the dead to which you are going.

  • Eccl 9:1
    71%

    1 All this I took to heart, and my heart saw it all: that the upright and the wise and their works are in the hand of God; and men may not be certain if it will be love or hate; all is to no purpose before them.

  • Eccl 3:10
    71%

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

  • Eccl 6:12
    71%

    12 Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?

  • Eccl 7:23
    71%

    23 All this I have put to the test by wisdom; I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me.

  • Prov 20:1
    71%

    1 Wine makes men foolish, and strong drink makes men come to blows; and whoever comes into error through these is not wise.

  • Prov 31:6
    71%

    6 Give strong drink to him who is near to destruction, and wine to him whose soul is bitter:

  • Prov 18:2
    71%

    2 A foolish man has no pleasure in good sense, but only to let what is in his heart come to light.

  • Eccl 2:6
    71%

    6 I made pools to give water for the woods with their young trees.

  • Eccl 9:3
    71%

    3 This is evil in all things which are done under the sun: that there is one fate for all, and the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; while they have life their hearts are foolish, and after that--to the dead.

  • Eccl 4:7
    71%

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

  • Eccl 1:3
    71%

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

  • Prov 23:30
    71%

    30 Those who are seated late over the wine: those who go looking for mixed wine.