Ecclesiastes 2:23

Ecclesiastes 2:23 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.

Context of Ecclesiastes 2:23

21For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. 24A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

Ecclesiastes 2:23 word by word

כִּ֧י כָל־יָמָ֣יו מַכְאֹבִ֗ים וָכַ֙עַס֙ עִנְיָנ֔וֹ גַּם־בַּלַּ֖יְלָה לֹא־שָׁכַ֣ב לִבּ֑וֹ גַּם־זֶ֖ה הֶ֥בֶל הֽוּא׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For all his daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• sorrowsמַכְאוֹבmak'ôb mak'ôb mak'ôbâh · painH4341
• and his travailעִנְיָן‛inyân · taskH6045
• griefכַּ֫עַסka‛as ka‛aώ · vexationH3708
• yea, his heartלֵבlêb · heartH3820
• taketh not restשָׁכַבshâkab · to lie down: sleepH7901
• in the nightלַ֫יְלָהlayil lêyl layelâh · nightH3915
• This is also vanityהֶ֫בֶלhebel hăbêl · vanityH1892

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 2:23

• Genesis 47:9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”
• Job 5:7Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
• Job 14:1“Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.
• Psalms 90:7We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.
• Psalms 127:2In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
• Ecclesiastes 5:12The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.
• Esther 6:1That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him.
• Job 7:13When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
• Psalms 6:6I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
• Psalms 32:4For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
• Psalms 77:2When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.
• Daniel 6:18Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep.
• Acts 14:22strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 2:23

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23His days are sorrows - What a picture of human life where the heart is not filled with the peace and love of God! All his days are sorrows; all his labors griefs; all his nights restless; for he has no portion but merely what earth can give; and that is embittered by the labor of acquisition, and the disappointment in the using. This is also vanity - Emptiness of good and substantial misery.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. 12-23The Teacher now examines the value of wisdom (Ecclesiastes 2:12–17) and hard work (2:18–23). These, too, are futile (Ecclesiastes 2:17).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. The only fruit he has is, not only sorrows in his days, but all his days are sorrows, and his travail (not only has griefs connected with it, but is itself), grief.Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 2:23

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Wisdom

In the dictionaries

• Gather
• Laughter
• Synagogue, the Great

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