EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Ecclesiastes 2:20
20So I was very upset when I thought about all my hard work on the earth.
Ecclesiastes 2:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
- New International Version (NIV)So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.
- English Standard Version (ESV)So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.
Context of Ecclesiastes 2:20
18I thought about all the hard work that I have done here on the earth. When I die, all the things that I worked so hard to get will belong to the next king. So I hated all my hard work. 19The next king may be a wise man, or he may be a foolish man. Nobody knows! But all the things that I used my wisdom and hard work to get will belong to him. All this has no purpose. So I was very upset when I thought about all my hard work on the earth. 21Some people are very wise and clever. They use their knowledge to provide good things for themselves. But after they die, someone else will have all their things. Their good things will belong to someone who did not have to work to get them. This also has no purpose. It only brings trouble. 22People have to do a lot of hard work on this earth and it causes them to worry. But in the end, they have nothing.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 2Ecclesiastes 2:20 word by word
וְסַבּ֥וֹתִֽי אֲנִ֖י לְיַאֵ֣שׁ אֶת־לִבִּ֑י עַ֚ל כָּל־הֶ֣עָמָ֔ל שֶׁעָמַ֖לְתִּי תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 2:20
- Genesis 43:14I pray that God Almighty will help you. I pray that God will cause the man to be kind to you. Then he will let your older brother go free. He and Benjamin will return here with you. As for me, if I must lose my sons, then I will lose them. There is nothing that I can do to stop it.’
- Job 17:11I will not live for many more days. I will never do the things that I wanted to do.
- Psalms 39:6As we live, we are just like shadows. We work to get things for ourselves. We may get a lot of money, but we do not know who will have it after we die.’
- 1 Corinthians 15:19As believers, we trust Christ to lead us into a new life after death. But if we only trust him to help us in this life, we should be very sad. Everybody should be very sorry for us, more than for anyone else.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8Our Christian friends, we want you to know about the trouble that we had in Asia. Those troubles were very painful. We ourselves were not strong enough to continue. We even thought that we would die.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:3You are receiving many troubles. We did not want anyone among you to turn away from Christ because of that. You already know that we who are believers must receive troubles like that.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 2:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20I went about to cause my heart to despair - What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-26Verses 18-26 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…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17-20The Teacher began to dislike life because of its: Sorrows (Ecclesiastes 1:18) Hard work (Ecclesiastes 2:18) Seeming pointlessness (Ecclesiastes 2:19–20)Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. I gave up as desperate all hope of solid fruit from my labor.Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 2:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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