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Ecclesiastes 2

Ecclesiastes 2 exposes the limits of pleasure, achievement, and wisdom, while locating the enjoyment of daily life in God’s hand.

A speaker with royal wealth recounts his search for what makes human life worth living. He tests pleasure, builds houses and gardens, and gathers riches, yet finds no lasting gain. His account evokes Solomon, though this chapter does not name him. Wisdom proves better than folly, but both the wise and the foolish die. The prospect of leaving his work to an unknown successor brings despair, before he turns to enjoyment as a gift from God.

burnoutretirement or purposedeath and what comes after
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1I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure;” and behold, this also was vanity.
2I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
3I 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.
4I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.
5I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
6I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown.
7I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem.
8I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men: musical instruments of all sorts.
9So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.
10Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.
11Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
12I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.
13Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.
14The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.
15Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
16For 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!
17So 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.
18I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
19Who 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.
20Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.
21For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?
23For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
24There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
26For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Ecclesiastes 2:17The speaker’s hatred of life marks the depth of his distress when wisdom and achievement cannot overcome death.
Ecclesiastes 2:24Enjoying food, drink, and work emerges as God’s gift within a life whose lasting gains remain beyond human control.
Ecclesiastes 2:26God governs the giving of wisdom and joy, yet the closing refrain leaves the chapter’s tension unresolved.
Where this chapter reaches

The royal building projects and amassed wealth share features with Solomon’s reign in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, while Proverbs shares the contrast between wisdom and folly. Job shares the language of distress over life, and Luke shares the concern that death leaves accumulated wealth to someone else.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What distinction do you notice between enjoying work and expecting lasting gain from it?

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Which part of the speaker’s distress over death and inheritance raises questions for you?

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Questions people ask about Ecclesiastes 2

What does vanity mean in Ecclesiastes 2?

The word points to vapor or breath, suggesting what is fleeting and cannot be held. The repeated phrase “a chasing after wind” sharpens that sense. Pleasure brings joy, and wisdom has value, yet neither secures lasting gain or escapes death. The speaker is testing what human effort can preserve.

Why does Ecclesiastes 2 say the speaker hated life?

In verse 17, the speaker recoils from life after recognizing that the wise and the foolish both die and are forgotten. His distress then turns toward labor: someone else will inherit what he built, with no guarantee of wisdom. The statement belongs to his searching account of life under the sun.

Does Ecclesiastes 2 teach that pleasure is wrong?

The speaker tests pleasure as an answer to what makes life worthwhile and finds it cannot secure lasting gain. Yet verse 10 acknowledges joy in his work, and verse 24 calls enjoyment of food, drink, and labor a gift from God. The chapter holds pleasure’s real goodness alongside its limits.

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Ecclesiastes · 12 chapters
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What the Bible says about death →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).