Ecclesiastes 2:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ecclesiastes 2:11
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
to turn · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
works
מַעֲשַׂי֙ma.'a.Sai
H4639
an action (good or bad) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
hands
יָדַ֔יya.Dai
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders dual construct + pronominal suffix
wrought
שֶֽׁעָשׂ֣וּshe.'a.Su
H6213
to do or make · relative particle + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
labour
וּבֶֽעָמָ֖לu.ve.'a.Mal
H5999
toil · conjunction + preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
laboured
שֶׁעָמַ֣לְתִּיshe.'a.Mal.ti
H5998
to toil · relative particle + verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
do
לַעֲשׂ֑וֹתla.'a.Sot
H6213
to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
vanity
הֶ֙בֶל֙he.vel
H1892
emptiness or vanity · noun, common masculine singular absolute
vexation
וּרְע֣וּתu.re.'Ut
H7469
a feeding upon · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
spirit
ר֔וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular absolute
profit
יִתְר֖וֹןyit.Ron
H3504
preeminence · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sun
הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁha.Sha.mesh
H8121
the sun · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ecclesiastes 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
1 John 2:16-17 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the wo…
Ecclesiastes 1:3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Exodus 39:43 And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed t…
1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Ecclesiastes 2:17-23 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Habakkuk 2:13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Solomon here, in pursuit of the summum bonum - the felicity of man, adjourns out of his study, his library, his elaboratory, his council-chamber, where he had in vain sought for it, into the park and the playhouse, his garden and his summer-house; he exchanges the company of the philosophers and grave senators for that of the wits and gallants, and the beaux-esprits, of his court, to try if he could find true satisfaction and happiness among them. Here he takes a great step downward, from the noble pleasures of the intellect to the brutal ones of sense; yet, if he resolve to make a thorough trial, he must knock at this door, because here a great part of mankind imagine they have found that w…
But all these I felt were only "vanity," and of "no profit" as to the chief good. "Wisdom" (worldly common sense, sagacity), which still "remained with me" (Ecc 2:9), showed me that these could not give solid happiness.
John Gill on Ecclesiastes 2:11
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do,.... He had looked at them, and on them, over and over again, and had taken pleasure therein; but now he sits down and enters into a serious consideration of them, what prodigious expenses he had been at; what care and thought, what toil and labour of mind, he had taken in contriving, designing, and bringing these works to perfection; what pleasure and delight he had found in them, and what happiness upon the whole arose from them: he now passes his judgment, and gives his sentiments concerning these things, having had it in his power to make himself master of everything delightful, which he…
"And I became great, and was always greater than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And all that mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I refused not any kind of joy to my heart; for my heart had joy of all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. And I turned myself to all the works which my hands had done, and to the labour which I had laboured to accomplish: and, behold, all was vain, and windy effort, and there was no true profit under the sun." In vehosaphti there is here no obj. as at Ecc 1:16; the obj. is the gedullah, the greatness, to be concluded and thought of from vegadalti, "and I became great." To the impers. היה for היוּ, 7b, cf…
The Church Fathers
When tracing formless letters in water, this act of writing only has existence while we perform it because our hand always follows the water's surface and smoothes over the impressions just made. Our exertions and energy on behalf of pleasure are similar. Once the action ceases, pleasure is blotted out and nothing remains; neither do those persons who have experienced pleasure have any trace of it. Such is the meaning of Ecclesiastes' words when he says that nothing remains under the sun for those who labor, for their end is vanity.
A person who is enlightened by the "sun of righteousness" is not "under" it but "in" it. Thus it is said in the Gospel: "The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father," not "under" the sun. If a person says about himself that he is a Christian and enlightened by the true light, by the "sun of righteousness," and still concentrates his actions on earthly things and strives after them (and we all are for the most part like these people) this person is "under the sun." If he is "under the sun" in this way, he has no gain. Even if he quotes much from Scripture but does not act accordingly, he has no gain.
"Then I looked at all things that I had done and the energy I had expended in doing them. "He who does all things with diligence and wariness is able to say this. "It was clear that it was all futile and a vexation of the spirit, [and there is no profit under the sun.]" As if he considers that in comparison with other things, all things are cheap which are under the sun, and are different according to the variety of desires. "And there is no profit under the sun". Christ placed his tabernacle in the sun. So Christ will not be able to live, nor be plentiful in whoever has not yet obtained the lucidity of the sun, its regularity and constancy.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Amusements And Pleasures, Worldly · Are all vanity — Are all vanity
Amusements And Worldly Pleasures · Vain — Vain
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF
Gold · Vanity of heaping up — Vanity of heaping up
Industry · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Investigation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Joy · Vanity of seeking, from earthly things — Vanity of seeking, from earthly things
Music · Vanity of all unsanctified — Vanity of all unsanctified
Pleasure · WORLDLY — WORLDLY
Vanity · Worldly labor is — Worldly labor is
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
meaningless . . . nothing really worthwhile: Accomplishment only brings hopelessness and discouragement because the accomplishment itself has no lasting meaning (2:18-23).
Rashi on Ecclesiastes 2:11
Then I looked. Now at all my deeds, and I see that there is no benefit in them, for from all of them I am lacking.17I.e., they do not yield the eternal benefit I had expected of them.
