1. I said to myself, "Come on. I'll put pleasure to the test. I want to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless.
2. "Laughter is foolish," I said. "And what can pleasure do for me?"
3. I tried cheering myself up by drinking wine. I even tried living in a foolish way. But wisdom was still guiding my mind. I wanted to see what was really important for men to do on earth during the few days of their lives.
4. So I started some large projects. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards.
5. I made gardens and parks. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.