Ecclesiastes 2:18

The Futility of Labor

18 Thus I hated 1all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must 2leave it to the man who will come after me.

Ecclesiastes 2:18 In-Context

16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die!
17 So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.
20 Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Ecclesiastes 1:3; Ecclesiastes 2:11
  • 2. Psalms 39:6; Psalms 49:10
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