Ecclesiastes 2:21

For when a man laboureth in wisdom, and knowledge, and carefulness, he leaveth what he hath gotten to an idle man: so this also is vanity, and a great evil.

Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner, 1752)

In The King James Version

For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

In Context

20Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring anymore under the sun.

22For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun?

Read all of Ecclesiastes 2

Cross References

2 Chronicles 31:20So Ezechias did all things which we have said in all Juda, and wrought that which was good, and right, and truth, before the Lord his God,

2 Chronicles 34:2And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father: he declined not, neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

2 Chronicles 36:5Joakim was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did evil before the Lord his God.

Psalms 49:11I know all the fowls of the air: and with me is the beauty of the field.

Ecclesiastes 9:18Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.

Jeremiah 22:17But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon oppression, and running after evil works.

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 2:18-26

Sources of Dissatisfaction; The Cheerful Use of Abundance. 17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. 19 And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 2:21