Ecclesiastes 2:21

21 Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy.

Ecclesiastes 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:21

For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in
knowledge, and in equity
Who does all he does, in natural, civil, and religious things, in the state, in his family, and the world, and whatsoever business he is engaged, in the wisest and best manner, with the utmost honesty and integrity, according to all the rules of wisdom and knowledge, and of justice and equity; meaning himself; the Midrash interprets this of God; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it [for]
his portion;
to his son, heir, and successor; who never took any pains, or joined with him, in acquiring the least part of it; and yet all comes into his hands, as his possession and inheritance: the Targum interprets this of a man that dies without children; and so others F26 understand it of his leaving his substance to strangers, and not to his children. This also [is] vanity, and a great evil;
not anything sinful and criminal, but vexatious and distressing.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 R. Joseph Titatzak in loc.

Ecclesiastes 2:21 In-Context

19 And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How meaningless!
20 So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world.
21 Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy.
22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety?
23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.