Ecclesiastes 2:21

21 For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.

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 knows [whether] he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will exercise control of all [the fruit of] my toil with which I toiled wisely under the sun. This also [is] vanity!
20 So {I began to despair} of all the toil with which I toiled under the sun.
21 For although a person may toil with great wisdom and skill, he must leave his reward to someone who has not toiled for it. This also [is] vanity and a great calamity.
22 For what does a person receive for all his toil and in the longing of his heart with which he toils under the sun?
23 All his days [are] painful, his labor [brings] grief, and his heart cannot rest at night. This also [is] vanity!
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.