Ecclesiastes 2:3

Webster's Bible (1833)

I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.

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Referenced Verses

  • Prov 20:1 : 1 Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler; Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
  • Eccl 1:17 : 17 I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.
  • Eccl 6:12 : 12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
  • Eccl 12:13 : 13 This is the end of the matter. All has 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, 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 anyone who is afflicted.
  • Eph 5:18 : 18 Don't be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,
  • Matt 6:24 : 24 "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.
  • 2 Cor 6:15-17 : 15 What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you 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 will be my people." 17 Therefore, "'Come out from among them, And be separate,' says the Lord, 'Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.
  • Eccl 7:18 : 18 It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also from that don't withdraw your hand; for he who fears God will come forth from them all.
  • Eccl 7:25 : 25 I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, 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 as long as they live. 13 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 has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? 30 Those who stay long at the wine; Those who go to seek out mixed wine. 31 Don't look at the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it goes down smoothly: 32 In the end, it bites like a snake, And poisons like a viper. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, And your mind will imagine confusing things. 34 Yes, you will be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or as he who lies on top of the rigging: 35 "They hit me, and I was not hurt; They beat me, and I don't feel it! When will I wake up? I can do it again. I can find another."
  • Gen 47:9 : 9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."
  • 1 Sam 25:36 : 36 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: therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
  • Job 14:14 : 14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, Until my release should come.
  • Ps 90:9-9 : 9 For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh. 10 The days of our years are seventy, Or even by reason of strength eighty years; Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, For it passes quickly, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of your anger, Your wrath according to the fear that is due to you? 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain 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 myself, "Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."

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

    18 For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

  • Eccl 2:1-2
    2 verses
    83%

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

    2 I said of laughter, "It is foolishness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"

  • 25 I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    82%

    13 I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

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

  • 4 I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.

  • Eccl 2:8-17
    10 verses
    80%

    8 I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men--musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

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

    10 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn't keep from them. I didn't withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.

    11 Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and, behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

    12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king's successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

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

    14 The wise man's eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness--and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

    15 Then said I in my heart, "As it happens 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.

    16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

    17 So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

  • Eccl 2:19-22
    4 verses
    79%

    19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

    20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

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

    22 For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

  • Eccl 8:15-17
    3 verses
    78%

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

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

    17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can't find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won't find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won't 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 make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

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

    26 For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

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

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

  • 18 I said in my heart, "As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals.

  • 22 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

  • 13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

  • 9 Rejoice, young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, And walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

  • 18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.

  • Eccl 9:9-10
    2 verses
    72%

    9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

    10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

  • 1 For 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 is love or hatred, man doesn't know it; all is before them.

  • 10 I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

  • 12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

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

  • 1 Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler; Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

  • 6 Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish; And wine to the bitter in soul:

  • 2 A fool has no delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own opinion.

  • 6 I made myself pools of water, to water from it the forest where trees were reared.

  • 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes 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 saw vanity under the sun.

  • 3 What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

  • 30 Those who stay long at the wine; Those who go to seek out mixed wine.