I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
Parallel translations
- KJV 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.
- 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 39:6“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.
- Ps 49:10For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- Luke 16:27–28“He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house;
- 1 Kgs 11:11–13Therefore Yahweh said to Solomon, “Because this is done by you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.
- Eccl 5:18Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.
- Luke 12:20“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared — whose will they be?’
- Eccl 2:26For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Acts 20:29–30For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
- Eccl 4:3Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
- Eccl 9:9Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.
- Eccl 2:4–9I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.
- Eccl 5:13–14There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
- 1 Cor 3:10According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.
- Eccl 1:13I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
- Eccl 1:3What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?
- Ps 17:14from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.
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 2:18 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
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.