Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 2:18-26"

Ecclesiastes 2:18-26

The Message Bible MSG

18 And I hated everything I'd accomplished and accumulated on this earth. I can't take it with me - no, I have to leave it to whoever comes after me.

19 Whether they're worthy or worthless - and who's to tell? - they'll take over the earthly results of my intense thinking and hard work. Smoke.

20 That's when I called it quits, gave up on anything that could be hoped for on this earth.

21 What's the point of working your fingers to the bone if you hand over what you worked for to someone who never lifted a finger for it? Smoke, that's what it is. A bad business from start to finish.

22 So what do you get from a life of hard labor?

23 Pain and grief from dawn to dusk. Never a decent night's rest. Nothing but smoke.

24 The best you can do with your life is have a good time and get by the best you can. The way I see it, that's it - divine fate.

25 Whether we feast or fast, it's up to God.

26 God may give wisdom and knowledge and joy to his favorites, but sinners are assigned a life of hard labor, and end up turning their wages over to God's favorites. Nothing but smoke - and spitting into the wind.

New International Version NIV

18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.

19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.

20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.

21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?

23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,

25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.