New American Standard Bible 2020

Ecclesiastes 2:12-23

12So I turned to 1consider wisdom, insanity, and foolishness; for what will the man do who will come after the king, except 2what has already been done? 13Then I saw that 3wisdom surpasses foolishness as light surpasses darkness. 14The wise person’s eyes are in his head, but the 4fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that 5one and the same fate happens to 6both of them. 15Then I said 7to myself, “8As is the fate of the fool, it will also happen to me. 9Why then have I been extremely wise?” So 10I said to myself, “This too is futility.” 16For there is 11no 12lasting remembrance of the wise, along with the fool, since in the coming days everything will 13soon be forgotten. And 14how the wise and the fool alike die! 17So I 15hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was 16unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

18So I hated 17all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must 18leave it to the man who will come after me. 19And who knows whether he will be wise or 19a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is 20futility. 20Therefore I 21completely despaired over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. 21When there is a person who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and 22skill, and then 23gives his 24legacy to one who has not labored for it; this too is futility and a great evil. 22For what does a person get in 25all his labor and in 26his striving with which he labors under the sun? 23Because all his days his activity is painful and 27irritating; even at night his 28mind 29does not rest. This too is futility.

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Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 2:12 Eccl 1:17 ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 2:12 Eccl 1:9, 10; 3:15 ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 2:13 Eccl 7:11, 12, 19; 9:18; 10:10 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 2:14 1 John 2:11 ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 2:14 Ps 49:10; Eccl 3:19; 6:6; 7:2; 9:2, 3 ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 2:14 Lit all of ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit in my heart ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Eccl 2:16 ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Eccl 6:8, 11 ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 2:15 Lit I spoke in my heart ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Eccl 1:11; 9:5 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit forever ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Lit already ↩
14. Ecclesiastes 2:16 Eccl 2:14 ↩
15. Ecclesiastes 2:17 Eccl 4:2, 3 ↩
16. Ecclesiastes 2:17 Lit evil ↩
17. Ecclesiastes 2:18 Eccl 1:3; 2:11 ↩
18. Ecclesiastes 2:18 Ps 39:6; 49:10 ↩
19. Ecclesiastes 2:19 1 Kin 12:13 ↩
20. Ecclesiastes 2:19 1 Tim 6:10 ↩
21. Ecclesiastes 2:20 Lit turned aside my heart to despair ↩
22. Ecclesiastes 2:21 Eccl 4:4 ↩
23. Ecclesiastes 2:21 Eccl 2:18 ↩
24. Ecclesiastes 2:21 Lit share ↩
25. Ecclesiastes 2:22 Eccl 1:3; 2:11 ↩
26. Ecclesiastes 2:22 Lit the striving of his heart ↩
27. Ecclesiastes 2:23 Job 5:7; 14:1; Eccl 1:18; 5:17 ↩
28. Ecclesiastes 2:23 Lit heart ↩
29. Ecclesiastes 2:23 Ps 127:2 ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 2