New American Standard Bible 2020

Ecclesiastes 2:17-22

17So I 1hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was 2unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

18So I hated 3all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must 4leave it to the man who will come after me. 19And who knows whether he will be wise or 5a 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 6futility. 20Therefore I 7completely 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 8skill, and then 9gives his 10legacy to one who has not labored for it; this too is futility and a great evil. 22For what does a person get in 11all his labor and in 12his striving with which he labors under the sun?

Read all of Ecclesiastes 2

Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 2:17 Eccl 4:2, 3 ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 2:17 Lit evil ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 2:18 Eccl 1:3; 2:11 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 2:18 Ps 39:6; 49:10 ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 2:19 1 Kin 12:13 ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 2:19 1 Tim 6:10 ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 2:20 Lit turned aside my heart to despair ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 2:21 Eccl 4:4 ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 2:21 Eccl 2:18 ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 2:21 Lit share ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 2:22 Eccl 1:3; 2:11 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 2:22 Lit the striving of his heart ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 2