Ecclesiastes 11:10

10 Remove vexation from your heart, and 1put away pain[a] from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Ecclesiastes 11:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 11:10

Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart
Worldly sorrow, as opposed to lawful mirth and cheerfulness, and especially to spiritual joy: or "anger" F26, as the word may be rendered, and often is; either at the providence of God, or at the correction of friends; all perturbations of the mind; all fierceness of spirit, and fiery passions, to which youthful age is subject: or all those things, as Jarchi observes, that provoke God to anger; sinful lusts and pleasures, the end and issue of which also is sorrow to men; and which agrees with our version; and put away evil from thy flesh;
or body; such as intemperance and uncleanness, to which young men are addicted: the advice is much the same, in both clauses, with that of the apostle's, "flee youthful lusts", ( 2 Timothy 2:22 ) . Jarchi interprets this of the evil concupiscence; for childhood and youth [are] vanity;
which quickly pass away; come into manhood, and soon slide into old age, and are gone presently, and all things within that compass: all actions done in that age are for the most part vain and foolish; and all the delights, joys, and pleasures thereof, vanishing and transitory. The last word F1, used to express the juvenile age, either is akin to a word which signifies the "morning"; youth being the morning and dawn of man's age, and increases as that; and as soon as it is peep of day with him, or he enters into life, he possesses vanity: or as having the signification of "blackness"; because, as Jarchi observes, the head of a young man is black: and so the Targum,

``childhood, and the days of blackness of hair, are vanity;''
whereas the hair of an aged man is gray.
FOOTNOTES:

F26 (oek) "iram", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus; "indignationem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus; "God's anger", Broughton.
F1 (twrxvh) "ortus" Junius & Tremellius; "aurora", Cocceius, Gejerus, so Aben Ezra and Ben Melech; "dies nigredinis pili"; so the Targum, and Abendana.

Ecclesiastes 11:10 In-Context

8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
10 Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Timothy 2:22

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.