Ecclesiastes2

New King James Version

TranslationKJV WEB ASV ESV NIV NASB NKJV NLT

¹I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.

²I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”

³I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.

⁴I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards.

⁵I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

⁶I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove.

⁷I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.

⁸I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.

⁹So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.

¹⁰Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.

¹¹Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.

¹²Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly; For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already done.

¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As light excels darkness.

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness. Yet I myself perceived That the same event happens to them all.

¹⁵So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, It also happens to me, And why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity.”

¹⁶For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool!

¹⁷Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁸Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

²⁰Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.

²¹For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

²²For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?

²³For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.

²⁵For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

²⁶For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ecclesiastes 2.

Full AI study →

Chapter Summary

In this chapter: The vanity and vexation of mirth, sensual pleasure, riches, and pomp. (1-11). Human wisdom insufficient. (12-17). This world to be used according to the will of God. (18-26).

vv1-11

Solomon soon found mirth and pleasure to be vanity. What does noisy, flashy mirth towards making a man happy? The manifold devices of men's hearts, to get satisfaction from the world, and their changing from one thing to another, are like the restlessness of a man in a fever. Perceiving it was folly to give himself to wine, he next tried the costly amusements of princes. The poor, when they read such a description, are ready to feel discontent. But the remedy against all such feelings is in the estimate of it all by the owner himself. All was vanity and vexation of spirit: and the same things would yield the same result to us, as to Solomon. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. His wisdom remained with him; a strong understanding, with great human knowledge. But every earthly pleasure, when unconnected with better blessings, leaves the mind as eager and unsatisfied as before. Happiness arises not from the situation in which we are placed. It is only through Jesus Christ that final blessedness can be attained.

vv12-17

Solomon found that knowledge and prudence were preferable to ignorance and folly, though human wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy. The most learned of men, who dies a stranger to Christ Jesus, will perish equally with the most ignorant; and what good can commendations on earth do to the body in the grave, or the soul in hell? And the spirits of just men made perfect cannot want them. So that if this were all, we might be led to hate our life, as it is all vanity and vexation of spirit.

vv18-26

Our hearts are very loth to quit their expectations of great things from the creature; but Solomon came to this at length. The world is a vale of tears, even to those that have much of it. See what fools they are, who make themselves drudges to the world, which affords a man nothing better than subsistence for the body. And the utmost he can attain in this respect is to allow himself a sober, cheerful use thereof, according to his rank and condition. But we must enjoy good in our labour; we must use those things to make us diligent and cheerful in worldly business. And this is the gift of God. Riches are a blessing or a curse to a man, according as he has, or has not, a heart to make a good use of them. To those that are accepted of the Lord, he gives joy and satisfaction in the knowledge and love of him. But to the sinner he allots labour, sorrow, vanity, and vexation, in seeking a worldly portion, which yet afterwards comes into better hands. Let the sinner seriously consider his latter end. To seek a lasting portion in the love of Christ and the blessings it bestows, is the only way to true and satisfying enjoyment even of this present world.

Key Words

IH589Hebrew

אֲנִי: I

saidH559Hebrew

אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)

heartH3820Hebrew

לֵב: the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything

ComeH1980Hebrew

הָלַךְ: to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)

nowH4994Hebrew

נָא: 'I pray', 'now', or 'then'; added mostly to verbs (in the Imperative or Future), or to interjections, occasionally to an adverb or conjunction

testH5254Hebrew

נָסָה: to test; by implication, to attempt

pleasureH8057Hebrew

שִׂמְחָה: blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival)

beholdH2009Hebrew

הִנֵּה: lo!

thisH1931Hebrew

הוּא: he (she or it); only expressed when emphatic or without a verb; also (intensively) self, or (especially with the article) the same; sometimes (as demonstrative) this or that; occasionally (instead of copula) as or are

alsoH1571Hebrew

גַּם: properly, assemblage; used only adverbially also, even, yea, though; often repeated as correl. both...and