So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Parallel translations
- WEB So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- KJV 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.
- BSB So 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.
- NKJV Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
- NASB So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was unhappy to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
He came to hate life because all the work under the sun seemed grievous and vain. The weight of life's futility produced deep weariness and despair.
Overview
The Preacher reaches an emotional low, hating life because its labors feel burdensome and empty. This raw honesty validates the despair that comes from facing meaninglessness apart from God. It is a cry that exposes the limits of life 'under the sun' and quietly urges the reader to seek life 'above the sun' in the God who gives purpose and hope.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Eccl 2:11Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
- Jonah 4:8When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
- Eccl 4:2Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.
- 1 Kgs 19:4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”
- Eccl 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Job 3:20–22“Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,
- Eccl 6:9Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Eccl 3:16Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.
- Ezek 3:14So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.
- Job 14:13“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
- Eccl 2:22For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?
- Ps 89:47Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
- Job 7:15–16so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
- Jonah 4:3Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”
- Num 11:15If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my wretchedness.”
- Hab 1:3Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.
- Jer 20:14–18Cursed is the day in which I was born. Don’t let the day in which my mother bore me be blessed.
- Phil 1:23–25But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 2:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.