Ecclesiastes 2:20

20 Therefore I completely * despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:20

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair
Of ever finding happiness in anything here below. He "turned about" F25, as the word signifies dropped his severe studies of wisdom, and his eager pursuits of pleasure; and desisted from those toilsome works, in which he had employed himself; and went from one thing to another, and settled and stuck at nothing, on purpose to relax his mind, as the Syriac version renders it; to divest it of all anxious thought and care, and call it off from its vain and fruitless undertakings; and be no more concerned about or thoughtful of all the labour which I took under the sun;
and what will be the consequence and issue of it; but quietly leave all to an all wise disposing Providence; and not seek for happiness in anything under the sun, but in those things that are above it; not in this world, but in the world to come.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 (ytwbow) "versus sum", Montanus; "et ego verti me", Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus.

Ecclesiastes 2:20 In-Context

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.
21 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit "turned aside my heart to despair"
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