Ecclesiastes 2:17-20

The Vanity of Living Wisely

17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for o all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The Vanity of Toil

18 I hated y all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must z 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 be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I a turned about and gave my heart up to despair b over all the toil of my labors under the sun,

  1. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 2:11
    Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
  2. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 1:3
    What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
  3. Cross References
    Psalms 39:6
    Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
    Psalms 49:10
    For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.
  4. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 7:25
    I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.
  5. Cross References
    Ecclesiastes 1:3
    What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.