Ecclesiastes 2
2
The Vanity of Self-Indulgence
1I #Luke 12:19said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.#2:1 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26 (see note on 1:2) 2I #[Prov. 14:13]said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” 3I #[ch. 1:17] searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on #ch. 7:25folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4I made great works. I #See 1 Kgs. 7:1-12 built houses and planted #Song 8:11vineyards for myself. 5I made myself #Song 4:16; 5:1gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7I bought male and female slaves, and had #Gen. 14:14; 15:3 slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of #[1 Kgs. 4:23]herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8I also gathered for myself silver and #1 Kgs. 9:28; 10:10, 14, 21 gold and the treasure of #[1 Kgs. 4:21; 10:15] kings and #1 Kgs. 20:14; Ezek. 19:8 provinces. I got #2 Sam. 19:35; 2 Chr. 35:25 singers, both men and women, and many #1 Kgs. 11:3concubines,#2:8 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain the delight of the sons of man.
9So I became great and #1 Chr. 29:25; See ch. 1:16surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my #1 Chr. 29:25; See ch. 1:16wisdom remained with me. 10And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart #[Prov. 8:31] found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my #ch. 3:22; 5:18; 9:9reward for all my toil. 11Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was #See ch. 1:14 vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing #See ch. 1:3to be gained under the sun.
The Vanity of Living Wisely
12 # ch. 7:25 So I turned to consider #See ch. 1:17 wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only #ch. 1:9, 10what has already been done. 13Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14#[Prov. 17:24] The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the #ch. 3:19; 9:2, 3; Ps. 49:10same event happens to all of them. 15Then I said in my heart, #[ver. 16; ch. 6:8]“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16For of the wise as of the fool there is #ch. 1:11; See ch. 9:5 no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. #See ver. 14How the wise dies just like the fool! 17So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for #[See ver. 11 above]all is vanity and a striving after wind.
The Vanity of Toil
18I hated #ch. 1:3 all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must #Ps. 39:6; 49:10leave 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 #ch. 7:25 turned about and gave my heart up to despair #ch. 1:3over 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 #See ch. 1:3all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23For #Job 5:7; 14:1 all his days are full of sorrow, and his #See ch. 1:13work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
24 # ch. 3:12, 13, 22; 5:18; 8:15; [1 Tim. 6:17] There is nothing better for a person than that he should #[ch. 9:7; Luke 12:19; 1 Cor. 15:32] eat and drink and find enjoyment#2:24 Or and make his soul see good in his toil. This also, I saw, is #[ch. 3:13; 5:19]from the hand of God, 25for apart from him#2:25 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26For to the one who pleases him #Job 32:8 God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given #[See ver. 7 above] the business of gathering and collecting, #[Job 27:16, 17; Prov. 13:22] only to give to one who pleases God. #See ch. 1:14This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
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