Ecclesiastes 2:10

10 Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure. For my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

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 and I accumulated for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered to myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—many concubines.

9 So I became great and surpassed all in Jerusalem who had preceded me; and my wisdom remained with me.

10 Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure. For my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor.

11 Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

12 Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?