Key Verse Spotlight
Ecclesiastes 2:18 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. "
Ecclesiastes 2:18
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
17 So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
18 I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.
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Ecclesiastes 2:1
"I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure;” and behold, this also was vanity."
Ecclesiastes 2:2
"I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”"
Ecclesiastes 2:3
"I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives."
Ecclesiastes 2:4
"I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards."
Ecclesiastes 2:5
"I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit."
Ecclesiastes 2:6
"I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown."
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