¹³ And I ^(A)applied my heart^[a] to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy ^(B)business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.

³ I ^(A)searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on ^(B)folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

The Vanity of Living Wisely

^12 (A)So I turned to consider ^(B)wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only ^(C)what has already been done.

²³ All this I have tested by wisdom. ^(A)I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.

^25 (A)I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.