Ecclesiastes 2:3

Authorized King James Version (1611)

I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.

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Referenced Verses

  • Prov 20:1 : 1 ¶ Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
  • Eccl 1:17 : 17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
  • Eccl 6:12 : 12 For who knoweth what [is] good for man in [this] 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 ¶ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 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 strong drink: 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
  • Eph 5:18 : 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; 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 the 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 part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath 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 out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,
  • Eccl 7:18 : 18 [It is] good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.
  • Eccl 7:25 : 25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason [of things], and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness [and] madness:
  • Eccl 2:24 : 24 [There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.
  • Eccl 3:12-13 : 12 I know that [there is] no good in them, but for [a man] to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it [is] the gift of God.
  • Prov 23:29-35 : 29 ¶ Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, [when] it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine 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 sick; 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] an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and 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 appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
  • Ps 90:9-9 : 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale [that is told]. 10 The days of our years [are] threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength [they be] fourscore years, yet [is] their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, [so is] thy wrath. 12 ¶ So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts unto 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 am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all [they] that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

    17And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

    18For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

  • Eccl 2:1-2
    2 verses
    83%

    1¶ I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity.

    2I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

  • 25I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason [of things], and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness [and] madness:

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    82%

    13And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all [things] that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

    14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

  • 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 peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] 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 in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

    11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.

    12¶ And 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 already done.

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

    14The wise man's eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

    15Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also [is] vanity.

    16For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool.

    17¶ Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

  • Eccl 2:19-22
    4 verses
    79%

    19And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise [man] or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This [is] also vanity.

    20Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

    21For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it [for] his portion. This also [is] vanity and a great evil.

    22For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured 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 merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

    16When I applied mine 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 a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek [it] out, yet he shall not find [it]; yea further; though a wise [man] think to know [it], yet shall he not be able to find [it].

  • Eccl 2:24-26
    3 verses
    76%

    24[There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.

    25For who can eat, or who else can hasten [hereunto], more than I?

    26For [God] giveth to a man that [is] good in his sight 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 is] good before God. This also [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

  • 12I know that [there is] no good in them, but for [a man] to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

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

  • 18I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

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

  • 13¶ This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it [seemed] great unto me:

  • 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 thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these [things] God will bring thee into judgment.

  • 18¶ Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.

  • Eccl 9:9-10
    2 verses
    72%

    9Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that [is] thy portion in [this] life, and in thy labour which thou takest 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 the grave, whither thou goest.

  • 1¶ For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, [are] in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred [by] all [that is] before them.

  • 10I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

  • 12For who knoweth what [is] good for man in [this] 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?

  • 23¶ All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it [was] far from me.

  • 1¶ Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

  • 6Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.

  • 2¶ A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

  • 6I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:

  • 3This [is] an evil among all [things] that are 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.

  • 7¶ Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.

  • 3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

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