2:3a I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly—

I explored ways to make myself feel better by drinking wine. I also explored ways to do some foolish things. (God’s Word)
-or-
So I decided to drink wine to make myself happy. I wanted to understand how a fool thinks. (EASY2015)

2:3b my mind still guiding me with wisdom—

In all this I was still thinking like wise people do.
-or-
I continued to seek wisdom
-or-
But I did not want to be a fool myself. (EASY2015)

2:3c until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do

I wanted to discover what benefits people
-or-
until I could determine what was best for people to do

2:3d under heaven during the few days of their lives.

during their short lives here in this world.
-or-
in the brief time that we (incl.) live on earth.

2:3a-d (combined)

I wanted to find out what was best for us during the short time we have on this earth. So I decided to make myself happy with wine and find out what it means to be foolish, without really being foolish myself. (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
I drank wine in order to see, whether it would make me happy. But I ⌊did not drink too much and⌋ kept a clear mind. Next I tested foolishness. I wanted to know what is the best thing for people to do during their short lives on earth.

© 2006 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.