2:1KJV I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.
B:E Project I said to myself, "Come on then, let me test you with pleasure - go ahead and enjoy yourself." But look, this too turned out to be fleeting and empty.
Context: Having found wisdom alone unsatisfying (end of ch.1), the Preacher now launches a second experiment: testing whether pleasure and fun can deliver the lasting meaning wisdom couldn't.
Meaning: This is a deliberate, almost scientific pivot - "let's try the opposite approach." It's exactly what a modern person does after a period of over-thinking: decide to just chase good times instead. The Preacher tries it fully and honestly, and the verdict comes in immediately, before he's even described what the pleasure involved: it too is hevel, vapour.
Lesson: I'm not against your joy - watch what I do at wedding feasts and dinner tables. But I want you to notice, as this man did, when you're using pleasure to try to answer a question it was never built to answer.
See Also: Luke 12:19-20 (the rich fool: "eat, drink, and be merry" followed by sudden death); 1 Timothy 5:6 ("she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth").
2:2KJV I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?
B:E Project I said of laughter, "This is foolish," and of pleasure, "What does this actually accomplish?"
Context: The Preacher's harsh initial verdict on his pleasure-experiment, before he goes on to describe the extravagant lengths he actually went to.
Meaning: He's not saying laughter is bad in itself - he's asking a sharper question: what does it achieve, on its own, as a life strategy? A good laugh feels great in the moment, but if you're using entertainment as your whole answer to existence, it collapses under that weight. Fun is wonderful; fun as a philosophy of life isn't sturdy enough.
Lesson: Enjoy a good laugh with your friends - I certainly did. Just don't ask laughter to carry a weight it was never designed to carry; that job belongs to something deeper.
See Also: Proverbs 14:13 ("Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness").
2:3KJV 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.
B:E Project I decided to indulge myself with wine - while still keeping my mind clear with wisdom - and to embrace some foolishness, to find out what's actually worthwhile for people to do with their few days of life.
Context: The Preacher explains his method for the pleasure experiment: full indulgence, but conducted deliberately and with wisdom still guiding the observation, so he could learn something rather than just getting lost in it.
Meaning: This is a careful, controlled experiment, not reckless self-destruction - he's watching himself indulge, taking notes as he goes. That's actually a useful move: he's asking a genuine, practical question ("what's actually good for people to do with their limited time?") rather than just chasing sensation blindly.
Lesson: If you're going to experiment with what makes life good, do it with your eyes open, not numbed out. I'd rather you learn honestly from your choices than drift through them unconscious of what they're teaching you.
See Also: Ephesians 5:18 ("be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit").
2:4KJV I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:
B:E Project I undertook huge projects: I built myself houses, planted vineyards for myself.
Context: The Preacher begins listing the specific pleasures and achievements he pursued - starting with grand construction and agricultural projects.
Meaning: This is the start of an extravagant catalogue - and it's worth noting the repeated "me/myself." Everything here is self-directed, built for his own benefit and enjoyment. It's ambition and achievement pursued as personal fulfilment projects, which is exactly the pattern worth watching as the list unfolds.
Lesson: Building and creating are good gifts - I'm not against ambition. But watch whether everything you build points back only to yourself, or whether it's also given away, shared, offered to others.
See Also: 1 Kings 7:1-12; 9:1 (Solomon's actual building projects - palace, temple - historically vast).
2:5KJV I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
B:E Project I made gardens and parks for myself, and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.
Context: Continuing the catalogue - lush, beautiful, carefully cultivated pleasure-gardens, another item on his list of self-indulgent achievements.
Meaning: These aren't just functional - gardens are about beauty, delight, sensory pleasure. He's not just accumulating wealth, he's curating an environment specifically designed to please himself. It's the ancient equivalent of building the ultimate luxury estate.
Lesson: Beauty is a genuine gift from me, worth enjoying. Just notice, as this man eventually did, that even the loveliest garden can't by itself answer the question of what you're here for.
See Also: Song of Solomon 4:12-13 (a garden as an image of delight, in a different context - the same king's poetry).
2:6KJV I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:
B:E Project I built reservoirs of water for myself, to irrigate my growing groves of trees.
Context: Still cataloguing his achievements - practical infrastructure supporting his gardens, part of the same grand self-directed project.
Meaning: This is meticulous, large-scale engineering - not a whim, but sustained, competent effort invested purely in his own pleasure-project. The sheer scale of what's being described (houses, vineyards, orchards, irrigation systems) makes clear this isn't a half-hearted experiment; he went all in.
Lesson: Whatever you build, build it well - that's a form of honouring the work I've given you. But keep asking who it's ultimately for; work poured out only for yourself eventually feels hollow, however impressive it looks.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 2:11 (the verdict on all of this, still to come).
2:7KJV I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:
B:E Project I acquired male and female servants, and had others born into my household as slaves; I also owned huge herds and flocks, more than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
Context: The list moves from land and buildings to people and livestock - staff, workforce, and wealth in animals, all exceeding anything previous rulers had.
Meaning: This reflects the social and economic norms of the ancient world (including slavery, which the text records rather than commends), and it shows the Preacher accumulating every marker of status his culture recognised. The scale keeps escalating - "more than all that were in Jerusalem before me" - because part of the experiment is testing whether "more" ever becomes "enough."
Lesson: I notice who gets treated as property and who gets treated as a person in stories like this - and I came to lift up the servant, not to celebrate the pile-up of possessions and status. Measure your life by how you treat people, not by how many you command.
See Also: Galatians 3:28 ("there is neither bond nor free... ye are all one in Christ Jesus"); Philippians 2:7 (Christ himself took the form of a servant).
2:8KJV I 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.
B:E Project I also collected silver and gold, the treasures of kings and provinces; I acquired male and female singers, and all the pleasures people enjoy - every kind of luxury.
Context: The catalogue reaches its peak - staggering wealth and every form of entertainment and luxury available, gathered from far beyond his own kingdom.
Meaning: This is the top of the pyramid: not just wealth, but curated entertainment and "delights" of every kind - basically unlimited resources for pleasure, with nothing held back. If total access to money and fun could deliver lasting satisfaction, this is the life that would prove it.
Lesson: I watched a rich man once who had everything and still walked away sad because he couldn't let go of it. Wealth isn't the enemy, but grasping it as your source of security always ends the same way - empty hands, eventually.
See Also: Matthew 6:19-21 (treasures on earth versus treasures in heaven); 1 Timothy 6:10 ("the love of money is the root of all evil").
2:9KJV So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
B:E Project So I became greater and wealthier than anyone who had ruled in Jerusalem before me - and through it all, my wisdom stayed with me.
Context: The Preacher pauses to summarise his unmatched success at this point - not just pleasure but genuine, unprecedented greatness, still accompanied by his clear-eyed wisdom.
Meaning: This is important: he doesn't lose himself in the indulgence. He remains lucid, watching what's happening even as he lives it. That's what makes his verdict, coming in the next couple of verses, so credible - he's not a burnt-out addict looking back with regret born of consequences; he's a clear-headed observer reporting in real time.
Lesson: You can enjoy success without losing yourself in it - stay awake to what it's actually doing to your heart as you go, not just afterwards.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 1:16 (his earlier claim to unmatched wisdom).
2:10KJV And 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.
B:E Project I denied myself nothing my eyes wanted, and I didn't hold back my heart from any pleasure - my heart found joy in all my hard work, and this joy was my reward for all that labour.
Context: The Preacher reports genuine, real enjoyment along the way - this wasn't a miserable slog; the pleasure was actually pleasurable, and the labour did bring real satisfaction in the moment.
Meaning: This is an important honest note: he's not claiming the whole experiment was joyless from the start. There was real delight in the doing. That makes the coming verdict more interesting - it's not that pleasure feels bad; it's that even real, in-the-moment joy doesn't add up to lasting meaning once you step back and look at the whole picture.
Lesson: I'm glad when you find joy in your work and in good things - don't feel guilty about that pleasure. Just hold it loosely, as a gift for today, not as proof that you've found your ultimate purpose.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 5:18-19 (enjoying labour explicitly called a gift of God, developed further later in the book).
2:11KJV Then 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.
B:E Project Then I looked at everything my hands had made, all the effort I'd put into it - and there it was: all of it fleeting, like chasing wind, with nothing really gained from it under the sun.
Context: This is the Preacher's summary verdict on the entire pleasure-and-achievement experiment (2:1-10) - the moment he stands back from the individual joys and evaluates the whole project.
Meaning: This is the pivotal turn of the chapter. In the moment, each pleasure was real. But zoomed out, looking at the totality of the achievement, he finds the same emptiness he found with wisdom. Nothing was "profited" - nothing lasted, accumulated, or provided a permanent foundation. This is the verse that shows even total success, tried honestly and fully, cannot answer the question of ultimate meaning by itself.
Lesson: However much you achieve, there will come a moment of standing back and asking "and then what?" I don't want that moment to devastate you - I want it to point you towards me, because I'm the "and then what" that doesn't run dry.
See Also: Luke 12:15 ("a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth"); Ecclesiastes 1:14 (the identical verdict on his wisdom-quest).
2:12KJV 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.
B:E Project Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and foolishness again - because really, what can the next king do that hasn't already been done?
Context: Having found pleasure empty, the Preacher circles back to comparing wisdom and folly directly, acknowledging that even his successor will just repeat what's already been tried.
Meaning: There's a note of resignation here - he recognises that whoever comes after him, however talented, is stuck repeating the same basic human experiments he's just run. This reinforces the "nothing new under the sun" theme from chapter 1: even a fresh king with fresh resources isn't going to discover some undiscovered path to lasting meaning.
Lesson: You don't need to reinvent the search for meaning from scratch, alone, exhausted. Others have walked this road before you, and I've already walked it too - lean on that instead of thinking you have to solve it all yourself.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 (nothing new under the sun, the same principle applied to kingship here).
2:13KJV Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
B:E Project Then I recognised that wisdom really is better than foolishness, in the same way that light is better than darkness.
Context: Despite the disappointments of chapters 1-2, the Preacher inserts a genuine, positive concession here: wisdom does have real, comparative value over foolishness, even if it doesn't solve everything.
Meaning: This stops the book sliding into total nihilism. Yes, wisdom didn't deliver ultimate answers - but that doesn't make it worthless; it's still clearly better than folly, the way light is clearly better than stumbling in the dark. The book is careful and precise here: limited value is still real value.
Lesson: Don't throw away wisdom just because it isn't a magic cure-all. Keep choosing light over darkness in the small, daily decisions - that choice still matters, even while the bigger questions stay open.
See Also: John 1:5 ("the light shineth in darkness"); Proverbs 4:18-19 (the path of the just as a shining light, the wicked stumbling in darkness).
2:14KJV The 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.
B:E Project The wise person can actually see where they're going, while the fool stumbles around in the dark - but I also realised that the same fate comes to both of them in the end.
Context: The Preacher affirms wisdom's practical advantage (continuing v.13) but then immediately undercuts any complacency by pointing to the one thing that levels wise and foolish alike: death.
Meaning: This is a classic Ecclesiastes move - grant the real, genuine advantage, then puncture the pride that could come from it. Wisdom helps you navigate life better day to day. But it doesn't exempt you from the ending everyone shares. That's a sobering but clarifying thought: wisdom is for living well, not for escaping mortality.
Lesson: Being wise doesn't put you above anyone else - we all arrive at the same door eventually. Let that keep you humble rather than superior, especially towards those who haven't had your advantages.
See Also: Psalm 49:10 ("the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others").
2:15KJV Then 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.
B:E Project Then I said to myself, "What happens to the fool will happen to me too - so what was the point of all my extra wisdom?" And I concluded that this too is fleeting and empty.
Context: The Preacher voices the discouraging logical conclusion of the previous verse - if wisdom and folly end identically, the personal payoff of his wisdom feels wasted.
Meaning: This is raw and relatable: what's the point of working hard to be wise, disciplined, thoughtful, if you end up in exactly the same place as someone who never bothered? It's a fair question, and the book doesn't dodge it - it sits with the discomfort rather than rushing to explain it away.
Lesson: If you've ever worked hard to do the right thing and wondered "what's the point, we all end up the same," I hear you. I'm not going to pretend that feeling is irrational - I'm going to show you, later in this story, that death is not actually the final word it appears to be.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 (one event happens to all - righteous and wicked alike - developed further later in the book).
2:16KJV For 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.
B:E Project The wise person isn't remembered any longer than the fool - everything happening now will eventually be forgotten. And the wise man dies exactly like the fool does.
Context: The Preacher intensifies the previous point: not only do wise and foolish share the same death, neither is remembered afterwards either.
Meaning: This confronts a very modern anxiety head-on: the fear of being forgotten, of your legacy evaporating. The Preacher says, plainly, it will - for almost everyone, regardless of how wise or accomplished they were. That's uncomfortable to read, but it's also liberating in a strange way: if being remembered forever was never actually achievable, you're freed from chasing it.
Lesson: Stop building your life around being remembered by people - most of them won't remember you, and that's not a tragedy, it's just true. Build it instead around being known and loved by me, which doesn't fade with time.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 1:11 (no remembrance of former things, the same theme from chapter 1); Philippians 4:3 (names written in the book of life - a different kind of permanent record).
2:17KJV 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.
B:E Project So I came to hate life, because everything done under the sun felt burdensome to me - all of it fleeting, like chasing the wind.
Context: This is the emotional low point of the chapter - the cumulative weight of every disappointment (wisdom, pleasure, achievement, mortality, being forgotten) tips over into genuine despair.
Meaning: This is one of the most starkly honest verses in the whole Bible - a biblical figure openly saying he hated life. It's important the book doesn't edit this out or rush past it; it lets real despair be real despair. If you've ever felt this way, you're not the first person in scripture to say it out loud, and you won't be shamed for it here.
Lesson: When you hate life, I don't turn away from you or demand you fake cheerfulness. I sit with you in it, exactly as I sat with grief in Gethsemane. Despair spoken honestly is not a failure of faith - it's often the beginning of real faith.
See Also: Job 3:1-3 (Job cursing the day of his birth, a similarly raw expression of despair); Matthew 26:38 ("My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death").
2:18KJV Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
B:E Project Yes, I came to hate all the hard work I'd done under the sun, because I have to leave it all to whoever comes after me.
Context: The Preacher explains one specific cause of his despair from the previous verse - the realisation that everything he's built will pass out of his control into someone else's hands.
Meaning: This names a particular sting: you can pour your whole self into building something, and the moment you die, control of it belongs entirely to someone else. That loss of control over your own legacy - not knowing what will happen to what you built - is a real and specific grief, distinct from the general fear of being forgotten.
Lesson: Hold what you build with open hands, not a clenched fist - because you were never going to keep permanent control of it anyway. What you can control is how you love and give while you're here; that's the part that's genuinely yours.
See Also: Psalm 39:6 ("he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them"); Luke 12:20 ("then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?").
2:19KJV And 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.
B:E Project And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they'll take control over everything I worked hard for, everything I used my wisdom to build under the sun. This too is fleeting.
Context: The Preacher sharpens the previous point - not only will his work pass to someone else, he has no guarantee that person will even be worthy of it or handle it well.
Meaning: This is a genuinely unsettling thought for anyone who's built something carefully: your successor might undo it, waste it, or run it into the ground, and there's nothing you can do about it from beyond the grave. It's a specific, concrete version of the general truth that we don't get to control outcomes past our own lifetime.
Lesson: Do good work today because it's right to do, not because you can guarantee what happens to it tomorrow. Trust the future - including what happens after you - to me rather than trying to grip it forever.
See Also: 1 Kings 11:11-13 (Solomon's own kingdom later divided and diminished under his son - a striking historical echo of this exact fear).
2:20KJV Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
B:E Project So I turned to let my heart fall into despair over all the hard work I'd done under the sun.
Context: A brief but heavy verse marking the depth of the Preacher's disillusionment before he begins to name specific reasons for it in the verses that follow.
Meaning: Notice the active phrasing - he "went about to cause" his heart to despair, almost as if he deliberately let himself feel the full weight of it rather than dodging it with distraction. That's actually a kind of integrity: facing the conclusion honestly rather than papering over it.
Lesson: It's alright to let yourself really feel disappointment instead of rushing past it with a plastered-on smile. I'd rather you grieve honestly than perform a happiness you don't feel.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 (sorrow can be better than laughter, because it makes the heart better - a later, more developed version of this idea).
2:21KJV For 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.
B:E Project Because sometimes a person works with wisdom, knowledge, and skill - and then has to leave everything they earned to someone who never worked for it at all. This too is fleeting, and it's a real injustice.
Context: The Preacher names the specific unfairness underlying his despair: skilled, careful effort can end up benefiting someone who contributed nothing.
Meaning: This is remarkably candid - he calls this outcome "a great evil," not just an unfortunate fact of life. The book allows real moral indignation about unfairness to stand without immediately resolving it with a tidy explanation. That honesty about injustice, without a pat answer, is part of what makes Ecclesiastes feel so contemporary.
Lesson: I see unfairness too, and I don't ask you to pretend it doesn't sting. What I ask is that you don't let bitterness over it poison how you treat people - do your honest work anyway, and leave the scales of fairness in my hands.
See Also: Psalm 73:2-3 (Asaph's own envy and distress at apparent unfairness in the world, resolved only when he sees the bigger picture).
2:22KJV For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
B:E Project So what does a person actually get from all their hard work and the anxious striving of their heart, all that labour under the sun?
Context: The Preacher restates his core question one more time, now loaded with everything he's uncovered - pleasure, wisdom, mortality, loss of control, and injustice all feeding into it.
Meaning: This is essentially a rhetorical echo of 1:3, but it now carries far more weight because of everything examined in between. It's the question circling back, sharper and heavier, forcing the reader to sit with just how little a purely "under the sun" life seems to yield.
Lesson: I'm not going to answer this question the way the world does, with more striving. I'm going to answer it in the next few verses of this very book, and later in my own life: rest, gratitude, and presence, not endless anxious effort.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 1:3 (the original form of this question, now returning with more depth).
2:23KJV For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
B:E Project All their days are full of pain, and their work is full of grief - even at night, their mind won't rest. This too is fleeting.
Context: The Preacher describes the lived, felt experience of the anxious striver from the previous verse - constant mental and emotional burden, even during supposed rest.
Meaning: This is a precise description of chronic stress and anxiety - the mind that won't switch off even at night. Ancient as this text is, it names something extremely familiar to a modern reader lying awake worrying about work. The Preacher isn't moralising about this; he's simply describing how joyless and exhausting that pattern of living actually is.
Lesson: If your mind won't rest even at night, that's not a productivity problem to solve with more effort - it's a sign your soul needs rest that only comes from trusting something bigger than your own striving. Bring me your restless nights.
See Also: Matthew 11:28-29 ("Come unto me... and I will give you rest"); Psalm 127:2 ("he giveth his beloved sleep").
2:24KJV 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.
B:E Project There's nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and find real enjoyment in their work - and I saw that even this comes from God's hand.
Context: This is the turning point of the whole discussion - after cataloguing every disappointment, the Preacher offers his first positive conclusion, which becomes a recurring refrain through the rest of the book.
Meaning: After all that searching, the answer isn't grand or complicated: ordinary enjoyment - a good meal, satisfying work, simple pleasures - received as a gift rather than chased as an achievement. This is the book's real turn: not "nothing matters, so give up," but "since ultimate answers are beyond you, receive the ordinary good things you do have with gratitude." That's a genuinely freeing, practical piece of wisdom, not a resignation.
Lesson: This is exactly what I'm pointing you towards: don't wait for some grand achievement to finally let yourself enjoy your dinner, your work, your friends today. Receive today's ordinary goodness as a gift from me, not as a prize you have to earn first.
See Also: Ecclesiastes 3:13 (the same conclusion restated); Matthew 6:34 ("sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" - live in today, not tomorrow's anxiety).
2:25KJV For who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?
B:E Project For who can really eat, or find enjoyment, apart from what God provides?
Context: The Preacher grounds the previous verse's conclusion - even simple enjoyment isn't self-generated; it depends on God as its source.
Meaning: This makes an important move: even ordinary pleasure isn't something you can manufacture purely by your own effort or cleverness - the capacity to genuinely enjoy your food, your work, your life is itself a gift, not a guaranteed outcome of trying hard enough. That reframes "enjoy the simple things" from a slogan into something received with humility rather than grasped by willpower.
Lesson: You can't force yourself into contentment by sheer effort - real enjoyment of life is something you receive, gratefully, not something you can manufacture on demand. Ask me for it rather than trying to grind it out yourself.
See Also: James 1:17 ("Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above").
2:26KJV For 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.
B:E Project God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the person who pleases him - but to the sinner, he gives the burden of gathering and hoarding, only for it to end up with the one who pleases God. This too is fleeting, like chasing the wind.
Context: The chapter closes with a reflection on how these gifts - wisdom, knowledge, joy - are distributed, contrasting the person who pleases God with the "sinner" whose accumulation ultimately serves someone else, before circling back one final time to the "vanity" refrain.
Meaning: This verse is often misread as a simple reward-and-punishment formula, but notice it ends with the same "vanity" refrain as everything else in the chapter - even this pattern of who ends up with what isn't presented as a fully satisfying, airtight system. It reinforces the chapter's core discovery: joy, wisdom, and knowledge are gifts to receive gratefully, not commodities you can secure purely through hoarding and self-effort.
Lesson: Don't spend your life gathering and hoarding out of fear - that's a heavy, joyless way to live. Ask me for wisdom and joy directly; they were always meant to be received as gifts, not stockpiled like treasure.
See Also: Luke 12:16-21 (the rich fool who hoards and then loses everything, the same warning in parable form); Matthew 6:19-21 (treasure on earth versus treasure in heaven).