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.
Parallel translations
- WEB I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
- BSB I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB So I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.
- NLT I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned.
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 hated his toil because he must leave its fruit to whoever comes after him. Losing control of one's life work to a successor feels futile.
Overview
Qoheleth laments that all his labor must be handed over to an heir he cannot choose or control. The inability to keep or direct the fruit of one's work intensifies the sense of vanity. This points to the truth that we are stewards, not owners, and that lasting reward is found not in earthly inheritance but in treasure stored up with God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 39:6Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
- Ps 49:10For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- Luke 16:27–28Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
- 1 Kgs 11:11–13Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.
- Eccl 5:18Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.
- Luke 12:20But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
- Eccl 2:26For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- Acts 20:29–30For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
- Eccl 4:3Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
- Eccl 9:9Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
- Eccl 2:4–9I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:
- Eccl 5:13–14There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
- 1 Cor 3:10According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
- Eccl 1:13And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
- Eccl 1:3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
- Ps 17:14From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
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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 2:18 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
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