1. I SAID in my mind, Come now, I will prove you with mirth and test you with pleasure; so have a good time [enjoy pleasure]. But this also was vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)! [Luke 12:19, 20.]
2. I said of laughter, It is mad, and of pleasure, What does it accomplish?
3. I searched in my mind how to cheer my body with wine–yet at the same time having my mind hold its course and guide me with [human] wisdom–and how to lay hold of folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.
4. I made great works; I built myself houses, I planted vineyards.