Ecclesiastes · 26 verses
Ecclesiastes 2
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
He gives his eyes everything they want—wine, gardens, gold, singers, houses, herds—and then finds the whole splendid procession chasing the wind.
The grand experimentvv. 1–11
The speaker sets pleasure up as an experiment, with wisdom still holding the clipboard while folly is invited in for the afternoon. He builds houses, plants vineyards and parks, lays up reservoirs, gathers servants and livestock, and piles silver, gold, singers, and concubines around himself. Jerusalem supplies the comparison: he becomes greater than those before him there, yet the inventory ends not in triumph but in a gust of wind.
Eyes in the head, darkness aheadvv. 12–17
Then wisdom is given its proper advantage: it sees, while folly stumbles about in the dark. A neat arrangement, until death strolls in and applies the same ending to both. The wise man has eyes, certainly; he also has an appointment with being forgotten, just like the fool.
The unknown heirvv. 18–26
The trouble now shifts from the work itself to the person who will inherit it. All the labour, wisdom, knowledge, and skill may be handed to a successor who has contributed nothing and may be foolish; the speaker cannot even discover which sort is coming. Night offers no rest from the thought. At last, eating, drinking, and enjoying work appear as gifts from the hand of God—not a tidy solution, but the one pleasure left standing while the great accumulation changes hands.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Eccl 2:1I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile.
Eccl 2:2I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”
Eccl 2:3I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
Eccl 2:4I expanded my pursuits. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.
Eccl 2:5I made gardens and parks for myself, where I planted all kinds of fruit trees.
Eccl 2:6I built reservoirs to water my groves of flourishing trees.
Eccl 2:7I acquired menservants and maidservants, and servants were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me,
Eccl 2:8and 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.
Eccl 2:9So I became great and surpassed all in Jerusalem who had preceded me; and my wisdom remained with me.
Eccl 2:10Anything 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.
Eccl 2:11Yet 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.
Eccl 2:12Then I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what more can the king’s successor do than what has already been accomplished?
Eccl 2:13And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:
Eccl 2:14The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.
Eccl 2:15So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.
Eccl 2:16For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!
Eccl 2:17So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Eccl 2:18I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
Eccl 2:19And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.
Eccl 2:20So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.
Eccl 2:21When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great evil.
Eccl 2:22For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?
Eccl 2:23Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
Eccl 2:24Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God.
Eccl 2:25For apart from Him, who can eat and who can find enjoyment?
Eccl 2:26To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 308 passages were voted onto 26 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 26Proverbs 13:22A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- 26Job 27:16–17Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
- 26Proverbs 28:8He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.
- 26John 16:24Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
- 26Isaiah 3:10–11Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- 262 Chronicles 31:20–21So this is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good and upright and true before the LORD his God.
- 24Ecclesiastes 3:22I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?
- 26Colossians 1:9–12For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
- 26Luke 1:6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
- 26Genesis 7:1Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
- 26James 3:17But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
- 24Ecclesiastes 8:15So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
- 26Romans 14:17–18For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- 261 Corinthians 1:30–31It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
- 241 Timothy 6:17Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
- 91 Chronicles 29:25The LORD highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal majesty such as had not been bestowed on any king in Israel before him.
Onward