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.
• New International Version (NIV)All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
• 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.

Context of Ecclesiastes 2:23

21For sometimes a man, who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, must hand over as an inheritance to someone who did not work for it. This also is futile and a great misfortune. 22For what does a man get for all his toil and longing of his heart for which he labors under the sun? For all his days, his work is pain and grief. Even at night his mind does not rest. This also is futility. 24There is nothing better for people than to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in their labor. This too, I perceived, is from the hand of God. 25For who can eat and who can have joy, apart from Him?

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 47:9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourn are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life. Moreover, the days of the years of my life have not attained the days of the years of the lives of my fathers, in the days of their sojourn.”
• Job 5:7Yet man is born for trouble, as surely as sparks fly upward.
• Job 14:1“A mortal born of woman, is of few days and full of turmoil.
• Psalms 90:7For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
• Psalms 127:2In vain you rise up early and stay up late, eating the bread of toil— for He provides for His beloved ones even in their sleep.
• Ecclesiastes 5:12There is a grievous wrong that I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded by its owner to his own hurt,
• Esther 6:1That night sleep deserted the king, so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, be brought in and read before the king.
• Job 7:13When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’
• Psalms 6:6For there is no memory of You in death, in Sheol who will praise You?
• Psalms 32:4For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was drained as in the droughts of summer. Selah
• Psalms 77:2My voice to God—and I cried out, my voice to God—and He heard me!
• Daniel 6:18A stone was brought to block the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet of his nobles, so that nothing could be changed regarding Daniel.
• Acts 14:22They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in faith, and saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.”

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