Ecclesiastes 2:18-26

English Standard Version

The Vanity of Toil

¹⁸I hated ^(A)all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must ^(B)leave it to the man who will come after me, ¹⁹and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰So I ^(C)turned about and gave my heart up to despair ^(D)over all the toil of my labors under the sun, ²¹because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²What has a man from ^(E)all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? ²³For ^(F)all his days are full of sorrow, and his ^(G)work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.

²⁴^(H)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(I)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(J)from the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him^[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him ^(K)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(L)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(M)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(N)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 2:24 Or and make his soul see good
Ecclesiastes 2:25 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

English Standard Version

The God-Given Task

⁹What ^(A)gain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰I have seen ^(B)the business that ^(C)God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹He has ^(D)made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot ^(E)find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹²I perceived that there is ^(F)nothing better for them than to be joyful and to ^(G)do good as long as they live; ¹³also ^(H)that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is ^(I)God's gift to man.

¹⁴I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; ^(J)nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. ¹⁵That which is, ^(K)already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God ^(L)seeks what has been driven away.^[a]