Ecclesiastes 2:20

Amplified Bible

So I turned aside and let my heart despair over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work that I had labored at under the sun.

Hebrew Names Version
Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

King James Version
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

English Standard Version
So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,

New American Standard Bible
Therefore I completely despaired over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

New Century Version
So I became sad about all the hard work I had done here on earth.

World English Bible
Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore I went about to make mine heart abhorre all the labour, wherein I had trauailed vnder the sunne.

Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore I turned my heart to despair of all my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

Berean Standard Bible
So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.

Contemporary English Version
I thought about all my hard work, and I felt depressed.

Complete Jewish Bible
Thus I came to despair over all the things I had worked for under the sun.

Darby Translation
Then I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour wherewith I had laboured under the sun.

Easy-to-Read Version
So I became sad about all the work I had done.

George Lamsa Translation
Therefore I changed my view concerning all the toil in which I had labored under the sun.

Good News Translation
So I came to regret that I had worked so hard.

Lexham English Bible
So I began to despair of all the toil with which I toiled under the sun.

Literal Translation
And I turned to make my heart despair over all the labor which I labored under the sun.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
So I turned me to refrayne my mynde from all soch trauayle, as I toke vnder the Sonne:

American Standard Version
Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun.

Bible in Basic English
So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour wherein I had laboured under the sun.

King James Version (1611)
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despaire of all the labour which I tooke vnder the Sunne.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
So I turned me to refrayne my mynde from all such trauayle as I toke vnder the sunne,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
so I went about to dismiss from my heart all my labour wherein I had laboured under the sun.

English Revised Version
Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour wherein I had laboured under the sun.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Wherfor Y ceesside, and myn herte forsook for to trauele ferthere vnder sunne.

Update Bible Version
Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor wherein I had labored under the sun.

Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labor which I took under the sun.

New English Translation
So I began to despair about all the fruit of my labor for which I worked so hard on earth.

New King James Version
Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun.

New Living Translation
So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world.

New Life Bible
So I was filled with sorrow for all I had worked for under the sun.

New Revised Standard
So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then resolved I, to give my heart over to despair, - concerning all the toil, wherein I had toiled, under the sun.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Wherefore I left off and my heart renounced labouring anymore under the sun.

Revised Standard Version
So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun,

Young's Literal Translation
And I turned round to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labour that I laboured at under the sun.

THE MESSAGE
That's when I called it quits, gave up on anything that could be hoped for on this earth. What's the point of working your fingers to the bone if you hand over what you worked for to someone who never lifted a finger for it? Smoke, that's what it is. A bad business from start to finish. So what do you get from a life of hard labor? Pain and grief from dawn to dusk. Never a decent night's rest. Nothing but smoke.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun caused me only great sorrow; because all is futility and chasing after the wind. ¹⁸So I hated all the fruit (gain) of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will succeed me. ¹⁹And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity (futility, self-conceit). ²⁰So I turned aside and let my heart despair over all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.²¹For there is a man who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill, yet gives his legacy to one who has not labored for it. This too is vanity and a great evil. ²²For what does a man get from all his labor and from the striving and sorrow of his heart with which he labors under the sun? ²³For all his days his work is painful and sorrowful; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity (worthless). ²⁴There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and assure himself that there is good in his labor. Even this, I have seen, is from the hand of God. ²⁵For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? ²⁶For to the person who pleases Him God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who pleases God. This too is vanity and chasing after the wind.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Genesis 43:14, Job 17:11-15, Psalms 39:6, Psalms 39:7, 1 Corinthians 15:19, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, 1 Thessalonians 3:3, 1 Thessalonians 3:4

Reciprocal: Psalms 127:2 - vain Ecclesiastes 3:19 - for Ecclesiastes 7:25 - I applied mine heart

Cross-References

Genesis 2:18
Now the LORD God said, "It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart who is] suitable and complementary for him."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair,.... Of ever finding happiness in anything here below. He "turned about" y, as the word signifies dropped his severe studies of wisdom, and his eager pursuits of pleasure; and desisted from those toilsome works, in which he had employed himself; and went from one thing to another, and settled and stuck at nothing, on purpose to relax his mind, as the Syriac version renders it; to divest it of all anxious thought and care, and call it off from its vain and fruitless undertakings; and be no more concerned about or thoughtful

of all the labour which I took under the sun; and what will be the consequence and issue of it; but quietly leave all to an all wise disposing Providence; and not seek for happiness in anything under the sun, but in those things that are above it; not in this world, but in the world to come.

y וסבותי "versus sum", Montanus; "et ego verti me", Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 the wise man and the feel alike from without - death and oblivion Ecclesiastes 2:16, uncertainty Ecclesiastes 2:19, disappointment Ecclesiastes 2:21 - all happening by an external law beyond human control. Amidst this vanity, the good (see Ecclesiastes 2:10 note) that accrues to man, is the pleasure felt Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 in receiving God’s gifts, and in working with and for them.

Ecclesiastes 2:12

What can the man do ... - i. e., “What is any man - in this study of wisdom and folly - after one like me, who, from my position, have had such special advantages (see Ecclesiastes 1:16, and compare Ecclesiastes 2:25) for carrying it on? That which man did of old he can but do again: he is not likely to add to the result of my researches, nor even to equal them.” Some hold that the “man” is a reference to Solomon’s successor - not in his inquiries, but in his kingdom, i. e., Jeroboam.

Ecclesiastes 2:14

Event - Or, “hap” Ruth 2:3. The verb from which it is derived seems in this book to refer especially to death. The word does not mean chance (compare Ecclesiastes 9:1-2), independent of the ordering of Divine Providence: the Gentile notion of “mere chance,” or “blind fate,” is never once contemplated by the writer of this book, and it would be inconsistent with his tenets of the unlimited power and activity of God.

Ecclesiastes 2:16

Seeing that ... - Compare Ecclesiastes 1:11. Some render, “as in time past, so in days to come, all will be forgotten;” others, “because in the days to come all will have been long before forgotten.”

Ecclesiastes 2:17

I hated life - Compare this expression, extorted from Solomon by the perception of the vanity of his wisdom and greatness, with Romans 8:22-23. The words of Moses Numbers 11:15, and of Job Job 3:21; Job 6:9, are scarcely less forcible. With some people, this feeling is a powerful motive to conversion Luke 14:26.

Ecclesiastes 2:19

Labour - Compare Ecclesiastes 2:4-8.

Ecclesiastes 2:20

I went about - i. e., I turned from one course of action to another.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

Are sorrows ... grief - Rather, sorrows and grief are his toil. See Ecclesiastes 1:13.

Ecclesiastes 2:24

Nothing better for a man, than that ... - literally, no good in man that etc. The one joy of working or receiving, which, though it be transitory, a man recognizes as a real good, even that is not in the power of man to secure for himself: that good is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

The doctrine of retribution, or, the revealed fact that God is the moral Governor of the world, is here stated for the first time (compare Ecclesiastes 3:15, Ecclesiastes 3:17 ff) in this book.

This also is vanity - Not only the travail of the sinner. Even the best gifts of God, wisdom, knowledge, and joy, so far as they are given in this life, are not permanent, and are not always (see Ecclesiastes 9:11) efficacious for the purpose for which they appear to be given.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 20. I went about to cause my heart to despair — What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils.