Ecclesiastes 2:10

10 Anything I saw and wanted, I got for myself; I did not miss any pleasure I desired. I was pleased with everything I did, and this pleasure was the reward for all my hard work.

Ecclesiastes 2:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:10

And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them
Though this sense is only mentioned, all are designed; he denied himself of nothing that was agreeable to him, that was pleasing to the eye, to the ear, to the taste, or any other sense; he indulged himself in everything, observing a proper decorum, and keeping himself within the due bounds of sobriety and good sense; I withheld not my heart from any joy:
the Targum says, "from all joy of the law"; but it is to be understood of natural pleasure, and of the gratifications of the senses in a wise and moderate manner; for my heart rejoiced in all my labours;
he took all the pleasure that could be taken in the works he wrought for that purpose before enumerated; and this was my portion of all my labour;
pleasure was what he aimed at, and that he enjoyed; this was the fruit and issue of all his laborious works; the part allotted him, the inheritance he possessed, and the thing he sought after.

Ecclesiastes 2:10 In-Context

8 I also gathered silver and gold for myself, treasures from kings and other areas. I had male and female singers and all the women a man could ever want.

9 I became very famous, even greater than anyone who had lived in Jerusalem before me. My wisdom helped me in all this.

10 Anything I saw and wanted, I got for myself; I did not miss any pleasure I desired. I was pleased with everything I did, and this pleasure was the reward for all my hard work.

11 But then I looked at what I had done, and I thought about all the hard work. Suddenly I realized it was useless, like chasing the wind. There is nothing to gain from anything we do here on earth.

12 Then I began to think again about being wise, and also about being foolish and doing crazy things. But after all, what more can anyone do? He can't do more than what the other king has already done.