Ecclesiastes 2:20

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Ecclesiastes 2:18–22 · Berean Standard Bible

18 I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

19 And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

20 So my heart began to despair over all the labor that I had done under the sun.

21 When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great evil.

22 For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?

Hebrew words

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Genesis 43:14

May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

Job 17:11

My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.

Job 17:12

They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.

Job 17:13

If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

Job 17:14

and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

Job 17:15

where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

Psalms 39:6

Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

Psalms 39:7

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

1 Corinthians 15:19

If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men.

2 Corinthians 1:8

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

2 Corinthians 1:9

Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

2 Corinthians 1:10

He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us,

1 Thessalonians 3:3

so that none of you would be shaken by these trials. For you know that we are destined for this.

1 Thessalonians 3:4

Indeed, when we were with you, we kept warning you that we would suffer persecution; and as you know, it has come to pass.