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Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Ecclesiastes 2:23

The fact that the wise man must surrender his acquisitions exhibits the inutility of the painful toil by which he has gained them.

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See also Ecclesiastes 2:23 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 23. _HIS DAYS_ ARE _SORROWS_] What a picture of human life where the heart is not filled with the peace and love of God! All his _days_ are _sorrows_; all his _labours griefs_; all his _nights_...

  • 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

    TRAVAIL. toil that brings about fatigue. The same word as in Ecclesiastes 1:13; Ecclesiastes 2:26; Ecclesiastes 3:10;...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night_ The verse speaks out the experience of the men who labour for that which does not profit. There is no real pleasure, even at the time. The "cares of this...

  • 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...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    AND HIS TRAVAIL, GRIEF— _And grief his employment._ The second observation (the subject of which is _riches,_ and which begins at the 18th verse), and the conclusion which flows from it, are so blende...

  • 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

    For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. ALL HIS DAYS ARE SORROWS AND HIS TRAVAIL GRIEF. Same sentiment as , interrogat...

  • 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...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    כִּ֧י כָל ־יָמָ֣יו מַכְאֹבִ֗ים וָ כַ֨עַס֙ עִנ

  • 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...

  • 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

    FOR ALL HIS DAYS [ARE] SORROWS, AND HIS TRAVAIL GRIEF,.... All his days are full of sorrows, of a variety of them; and all his affairs and transactions of life are attended with grief and trouble; not...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    _For all his days [are] sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity._ Ver. 23. _For all his days are sorrows, &c._] All the days of the afflicted...

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

    _For what hath man_ “To what purpose,” a man may well say, “is all this toil of my body, and these solicitous thoughts, and this anguish of my mind? For all that a man can enjoy himself of the anxious...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE VANITY OF LABOR IN ITSELF...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief, that seems to be the only result and reward of all his labor; YEA, HIS HEART TAKETH NOT REST IN THE NIGHT, since he is troubled with anxiety and ke...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "BECAUSE ALL HIS DAYS HIS TASK IS PAINFUL AND GRIEVOUS; EVEN AT NIGHT HIS MIND DOES NOT REST. THIS TOO IS VANITY." This is what many "driven" people have found at the end of the road. "The compulsive...

  • 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

    FOR ALL HIS DAYS ARE SORROWS; or, _though all his days were sorrows_, i.e. full of sorrows. For this seems added to aggravate the evil mentioned in the foregoing verse. Though he took great and unwear...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Ecclesiastes 2:23 days H3117 sorrowful H4341 work H6045 burdensome H3708 night H3915 heart H3820 rest H7901 (H

  • 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

    _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

    Acts 14:22; Daniel 6:18; Ecclesiastes 5:12; Esther 6:1; Genesis 47:9;...

  • 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

    Sorrows — Full of sorrows. Tho' he took great and unwearied pains all his days, yet the toils of his body were accompanied with vexation of mind. His heart — Because his sleep was broken with perplexi...

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