For 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB For 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.
- BSB To 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.
- NKJV For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
- NASB For to a person who is good in His sight, He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is futility and striving after wind.
- NLT God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the 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
God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please Him, while the sinner's gain is passed on to the godly. He calls even this a vanity and chasing wind.
Overview
Qoheleth observes a moral order in which God grants joy to those who please Him, yet still labels life's outcomes elusive. The transfer of the sinner's wealth to the righteous hints at God's just governance, though full resolution awaits beyond this life. This anticipates the gospel reality that lasting wisdom and joy are God's gracious gift, received in Christ rather than earned by toil.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Prov 13:22A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
- Job 27:16–17Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
- Prov 28:8He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.
- Isa 3:10–11Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
- John 16:24Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
- Col 3:16–17Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
- 2 Chr 31:20–21And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God.
- Prov 3:13–18Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
- Col 1:9–12For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
- Job 32:8But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
- Luke 1:6And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
- Jas 3:17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
- Gen 7:1And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
- 1 Cor 1:30–31But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
- Rom 14:17–18For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
- Gal 5:22–23But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
- Eccl 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
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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 2:26 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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