Ecclesiastes 2:22

22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:22 in Other Translations

22 For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?

22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?

22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety?

22 So what do you get from a life of hard labor?

22 For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors with under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:22 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 2:22

For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of
his heart?
&c.] What profit has he by it, when there is so much vexation in it, both in getting it, and in the thought of leaving it to others? What advantage is it to him, when it is all acquired for and possessed by another; and especially of what use is it to him after his death? Even of all wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
the Targum adds, "in this world"; though he has been labouring all his days, yet there is not one thing he has got by his labour that is of any real advantage to him, or can yield him any solid comfort and satisfaction, or bring him true happiness, or lead him to it.

Ecclesiastes 2:22 In-Context

20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun.

21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune.

22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?

23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,

Cross References

• 1. S Ecclesiastes 1:3; Ecclesiastes 3:9