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The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

Ecclesiastes 2:18-20

ECCLESIASTES—NOTE ON Ecclesiastes 2:18 I hated all my toil. While at times the Preacher found pleasure in his work, his enjoyment is severely lessened by the knowledge that he must eventually hand over his life’s work to someone else. This causes him to despair that his life’s work will not amount to anything significant.

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See also Ecclesiastes 2:18-20 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 18. _I HATED ALL MY LABOUR_] Because, 1. It has not answered the end for which it was instituted. 2. I can enjoy the fruits of it but a short time. 3. I must leave it to others, and know not...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    Solomon having found that wisdom and folly agree in being subject to vanity, now contrasts one with the other Ecclesiastes 2:13. Both are brought under vanity by events Ecclesiastes 2:14 which come on...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 2THE RESULTS OF THE SEARCH AND DIFFERENT VANITIES _ 1. His personal experience (Ecclesiastes 2:1)_ 2. Various vanities and a conclusion (Ecclesiastes 2:12) Ecclesiastes 2:1

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    Even if one has amassed wealth there is the bitterness of not knowing who will inherit it or how the heir will use it. Everything has to be left behind to an uncertain fate, for there is no guarantee...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    ECCLESIASTES 1:12 TO ECCLESIASTES 2:26. QOHELETH'S INVESTIGATIONS. Assuming the character of Solomon the writer tells of his search for happiness under many forms. The pursuit of wisdom (Ecclesiastes...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    LABOUR. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for all that is produced by toil. TAKEN. toiled....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me_ The history of the great ones of the earth presents not a few parallel utterances. Mazarin walks through the galleries of his palace and...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _THE VANITY OF TOIL -- ECCLESIASTES 2:18-23:_ When Solomon stopped to consider his life he hated what he had done. He had spent his life collecting stuff to leave to someone else. He realized that the...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    b. The legacy of one's labor is often lost to fools when one dies. Ecclesiastes 2:18-23 TEXT 2:18-23 18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leav...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    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. I HATED ALL MY LABOUR ... BECAUSE I SHOULD LEAVE IT UNTO THE MAN THAT SHAL...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    EPICUREANISM AND WISDOM ALIKE PROFITLESS 1-3. The writer makes enjoyment his quest, while aware that it is folly, and avoiding excess in a philosophic spirit....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    THE TEACHER SEARCHES FOR THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 2 THE TEST TO DISCOVER WHAT MAKES A PERSON HAPPY – ECCLESIASTES 2:1-11...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    Eccles. 9:19. There seems to be no special reference to Rehoboam, but only the assertion of the general principle that the wisest of men must leave all that his labour has gained to be enjoyed by anot...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וְ שָׂנֵ֤אתִֽי אֲנִי֙ אֶת ־כָּל ־עֲמָלִ֔י שֶׁ

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Turning from the pursuit of knowledge to the pathway of pleasure, the king had given himself up to mirth, seeking the false stimulus of wine. In this also he had been disappointed, finding that mirth...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    CHAPTER II....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool. (17) Therefore I ha...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 1 THROUGH 12. The Book of Ecclesiastes is, up to a certain point, the converse of the Book of Proverbs. (see NOTE TO PROVERBS below) It is the experience of a...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    YEA, I HATED ALL MY LABOUR WHICH I HAD TAKEN UNDER THE SUN,.... The great works he made, the houses he built; the vineyards, gardens, and orchards he planted, c. what he got by his labour, his riches...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    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. Ver. 18. _Yea, I hated all my labour,_] _i.e., _ I was sorry to think that I...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Therefore I hated life_ My life, though accompanied with so much honour, and pleasure, and wisdom, was a burden to me, and I was ready to wish, either that I had never been born, or that I might spee...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Yea, I hated, regarded with disgust and aversion, ALL MY LABOR WHICH I HAD TAKEN UNDER THE SUN, with which he had exerted himself; BECAUSE I SHOULD LEAVE IT UNTO THE MAN THAT SHALL BE AFTER ME, his su...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Solomon's own Example...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    TAKEN: _ Heb._ laboured...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "THUS. HATED ALL THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR FOR WHICH. HAD LABORED UNDER THE SUN, FOR. MUST LEAVE IT TO THE MAN WHO WILL COME AFTER ME."ALL THE FRUIT OF MY LABOR" -not only did life lose its meaning, but a...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    18-26 Our hearts are very loth to quit their expectations of great things from the creature; but Solomon came to this at length. The world is a vale of tears, even to those that have much of it. See...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    I HATED ALL MY LABOUR WHICH I HAD TAKEN UNDER THE SUN; all these riches and buildings, and other fruits of my labour, were the matter of my repentance, and aggravations of my misery, because I must, a...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 2:18 hated H8130 (H8804) labor H5999 toiled H6001 sun H8121 leave H3240 (H8686) man H120 after

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    WHAT USE OUR EFFORTS WHEN WE MUST LEAVE ALL BEHIND TO THOSE WHO WILL MISUSE IT? (ECCLESIASTES 2:18). Ecclesiastes 2:18 ‘And I hated all my effort with which I exerted myself under the sun, seeing tha...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 2:16 I. The noblest renown is posthumous fame, and the most refined ambition is the desire for such fame. And of this more exalted ambition it would appear that Solomon had felt the stirr...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Ecclesiastes 1:12-2 I. As was natural in so wise a man, the Preacher turns first to wisdom. It is the wisdom that is born of wide and varied experience, not of abstract study. He acquaints himself wit...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Solomon shows that there is no true happiness and satisfaction to be had in mirth, pleasure and the delights of sense. CHARACTERS: God, Solomon. CONCLUSION: True and lasting happiness and...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Ecclesiastes 2:1. _Enjoy pleasure._ The first doctrine of Epicurus, whose system is here rebutted. Acts 17:18. Ecclesiastes 2:2. _I said of laughter,_ of all forced and frantic joy, _it is mad._ Chald...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _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._ THE DIRGE OF THE DEAD HAND Solomon’s life was complete from the naturalist...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth._ THE THREEFOLD VIEW OF HUMAN LIFE Three views of human life are given in this remarkable chapter. I. The theatrical view of life (Ecclesiastes 2:1). The wri...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Ecclesiastes 2:17_ THE CONFESSIONS OF A PLEASURE-SEEKER I. THAT HIS LIFE’S PROMISE HAS FAILED. The pleasure-seeker begins life with high hopes. The intoxication of...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ECCLESIASTES 2:1 Section 2. _Vanity of striving after pleasure and wealth._ ECCLESIASTES 2:1 Dissatisfied with the result of the pursuit of wisdom, Koheleth embarks on a course of sensua...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    So I said in my heart, Go to now, I'm going to prove thee with [pleasure,] with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: but, behold, this was vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:1). So we read in the New Testament the ep...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Corinthians 3:10; 1 Kings 11:11; Acts 20:29; Acts 20:30;...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    VANITY AND VEXATION UNDER THE SUN Ecclesiastes 2:11 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We shall introduce our study with quotations from our booklet on Ecclesiastes. Solomon had tried everything which his heart co...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    All my labour — All these riches and buildings, and other fruits of my labour, were aggravations of my misery. Because — Because I must, and that everlastingly, leave them all behind me....

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