Ecclesiastes 2:23
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:23 in other translations
| BSB | Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile. |
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| WEB | For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. |
| ASV | For all his days are but sorrows, and his travail is grief; yea, even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity. |
| YLT | For all his days are sorrows, and his travail sadness; even at night his heart hath not lain down; this also is vanity. |
| DARBY | For all his days are sorrows, and his travail vexation: even in the night his heart taketh no rest. This also is vanity. |
| BBE | All his days are sorrow, and his work is full of grief. Even in the night his heart has no rest. This again is to no purpose. |
| Webster | For all his days are sorrows, and his labor grief; yes, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity. |
What does Ecclesiastes 2:23 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:18-26
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 what fools they are, who make themselves drudges to the world, which affords a man nothing better than subsistence for the body. And the utmost he can attain in this respect is to allow himself a sober, cheerful use thereof…
Ecclesiastes 2:23 in the original Hebrew
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Cross references for Ecclesiastes 2:23
- Job 14:1
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
- Job 5:7
Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
- Job 7:13-14
When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:
- Psalms 127:2
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
- Psalms 6:6-7
I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
- Daniel 6:18
Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.
- Genesis 47:9
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
- Acts 14:22
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
- Psalms 77:2-4
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
- Ecclesiastes 1:18
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
- Psalms 90:7-10
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
- Esther 6:1
On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Context
- Ecclesiastes 2:22
For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
- Ecclesiastes 2:23
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
- Ecclesiastes 2:24
There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.
Ecclesiastes 2:23 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Porque todos sus días no son sino dolores, y sus trabajos molestias: aun de noche su corazón no reposa. Esto también es vanidad. |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Car tous ses jours sont douleur, et son occupation est chagrin; même la nuit son cœur ne repose pas. Cela aussi est vanité. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Denn alle seine Tage sind Kummer und seine Geschäftigkeit ist Verdruß; selbst des Nachts ruht sein Herz nicht. Auch das ist Eitelkeit. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Cuncti dies ejus doloribus et ærumnis pleni sunt, nec per noctem mente requiescit. Et hoc nonne vanitas est? |