Ecclesiastes 2:20

20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled 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 Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
19 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
20 Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.