Ecclesiastes 11:8-9

8 Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him 1rejoice in them all, and let him remember the 2days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.
9 Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the 3desires of your eyes. Yet know that 4God will bring you to judgment for all these things.

Ecclesiastes 11:8-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 11

This chapter begins with an exhortation to liberality to the poor, enforced by several reasons and arguments, and the objections to it removed; and the whole illustrated by various similes, Ec 11:1-6; and then it is observed, that a life attended with outward prosperity and inward peace, and spent in doing good, is very delightful, and very desirable it is to have it continued; yet it should be remembered this will not be always, that many days of darkness in the grave will come; and after all the whole of a man's life is vanity, as is often inculcated, Ec 11:7,8; and the chapter is closed with an ironic address to young men, designed to show them the folly and danger of sinful courses, to reform them from them, and to put them in mind of a future judgment, Ec 11:9,10.

Cross References 4

  • 1. Ecclesiastes 9:7
  • 2. Ecclesiastes 12:1
  • 3. Numbers 15:39; Job 31:7; Ecclesiastes 2:10
  • 4. Ecclesiastes 3:17; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 14:10

Footnotes 2

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