Ecclesiastes 2:21-26

21 because 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.
22 What has a man from 1all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
23 For 2all his days are full of sorrow, and his 3work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
24 4There is nothing better for a person than that he should 5eat and drink and find enjoyment[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is 6from the hand of God,
25 for apart from him[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
26 For to the one who pleases him 7God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given 8the business of gathering and collecting, 9only to give to one who pleases God. 10This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Cross References 10

  • 1. See Ecclesiastes 1:3
  • 2. Job 5:7; Job 14:1
  • 3. See Ecclesiastes 1:13
  • 4. Ecclesiastes 3:12, 13, 22; Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 8:15; [1 Timothy 6:17]
  • 5. [Ecclesiastes 9:7; Luke 12:19; 1 Corinthians 15:32]
  • 6. [Ecclesiastes 3:13; Ecclesiastes 5:19]
  • 7. Job 32:8
  • 8. [See ver. 7 above]
  • 9. [Job 27:16, 17; Proverbs 13:22]
  • 10. See Ecclesiastes 1:14

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or and make his soul see good
  • [b]. Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.