Ecclesiastes 2:18
New International Version
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.

New Living Translation
I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned.

English Standard Version
I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me,

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

King James Bible
Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

New King James Version
Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

New American Standard Bible
So I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

NASB 1995
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

NASB 1977
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

Legacy Standard Bible
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

Amplified Bible
So I hated all the fruit (gain) of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will succeed me.

Christian Standard Bible
I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the one who comes after me.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
I hated all my work that I labored at under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

American Standard Version
And I hated all my labor wherein I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
I hated all my labor that I have labored under the sun, because I leave it to a man who comes after me

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And I hated the whole of my labour which I took under the sun; because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

Contemporary English Version
Suddenly I realized that others would someday get everything I had worked for so hard, then I started hating it all.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun, being like to have an heir after me,

English Revised Version
And I hated all my labour wherein I laboured under the sun: seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I came to hate everything for which I had worked so hard under the sun, because I will have to leave it to the person who replaces me.

Good News Translation
Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor,

International Standard Version
Then I despised everything I had worked for on earth, that is, the things that I will leave to the person who will succeed me.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And I hated all my labour wherein I laboured under the sun, seeing that I must leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

Literal Standard Version
And I have hated all my labor that I labor at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.

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

New American Bible
And I detested all the fruits of my toil under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who is to come after me.

NET Bible
So I loathed all the fruit of my effort, for which I worked so hard on earth, because I must leave it behind in the hands of my successor.

New Revised Standard Version
I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me

New Heart English Bible
I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

Webster's Bible Translation
Yes, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me.

World English Bible
I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

Young's Literal Translation
And I have hated all my labour that I labour at under the sun, because I leave it to a man who is after me.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Futility of Work
18I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. 19And 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.…

Cross References
Psalm 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.

Psalm 49:10
For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

Ecclesiastes 1:3
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:11
Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:21
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.

Ecclesiastes 3:22
I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?


Treasury of Scripture

Yes, I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it to the man that shall be after me.

i hated

Ecclesiastes 2:4-9
I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: …

Ecclesiastes 1:13
And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

Ecclesiastes 4:3
Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

taken

Ecclesiastes 2:26
For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 5:13,14
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt…

1 Kings 11:1-13
But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; …

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Ecclesiastes 2
1. the vanity of human courses is the work of pleasure
12. Though the wise be better than the fool, yet both have one event
18. The vanity of human labor, in leaving it they know not to whom
24. Nothing better than joy in our labor but that is God's gift














(18) Eccles. 9:19. There seems to be no special reference to Rehoboam, but only the assertion of the general principle that the wisest of men must leave all that his labour has gained to be enjoyed by another who may be destitute of wisdom. The thought is not so much that it is a hardship for the wise man to leave what he has gained, as that it is that he should have no advantage over the fool who enjoys the same without any merit.

Verse 18. - Such had been his general view of men's actions; he now brings the thought home to his own case, which makes his distress more poignant. Yea (and), I hated all my labor which I had taken under the sun. He is disgusted to reflect upon all the trouble he has taken in life, when he thinks of what will become of the productions of his genius and the treasures which he has amassed. Because I should leave it (my labor, i.e. its results) unto the man that shall be after me. It is impossible that Solomon could thus have spoken of Rehoboam; and to suppose that he wrote thus after Jeroboam's attempt (1 Kings 2:26, etc.), and in contemplation of a possible usurper, is not warranted by any historical statement, the absolute security of the succession being all along expected, and the growing discontent being perfectly unknown to, or contemptuously disregarded by, the king. The sentiment is general, and recurs more than once; e.g., Ecclesiastes 4:8; Ecclesiastes 5:14; Ecclesiastes 6:2. Thus Horace, 'Epist.,' 2:2. 175 -

"Sic quia perpetuus nulli datur usus, et heres
Heredem alterius velut unda supervenit undam,
Quid vici prosunt aut horrea?"


Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
I
אֲנִי֙ (’ă·nî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

hated
וְשָׂנֵ֤אתִֽי (wə·śā·nê·ṯî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 8130: To hate

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

for which
שֶׁאֲנִ֥י (še·’ă·nî)
Pronoun - relative | Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

I had toiled
עֲמָלִ֔י (‘ă·mā·lî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5999: Toil, wearing effort, worry, wheth, of body, mind

under
תַּ֣חַת (ta·ḥaṯ)
Preposition
Strong's 8478: The bottom, below, in lieu of

the sun,
הַשָּׁ֑מֶשׁ (haš·šā·meš)
Article | Noun - common singular
Strong's 8121: The sun, the east, a ray, a notched battlement

because I must leave it
שֶׁ֣אַנִּיחֶ֔נּוּ (še·’an·nî·ḥen·nū)
Pronoun - relative | Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3240: Bestow, cast down, lay down, up, leave off, let alone remain, pacify, place,

to the man
לָאָדָ֖ם (lā·’ā·ḏām)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being

who comes
שֶׁיִּהְיֶ֥ה (še·yih·yeh)
Pronoun - relative | Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

after me.
אַחֲרָֽי׃ (’a·ḥă·rāy)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 310: The hind or following part


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 2:18 I hated all my labor in which (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 2:17
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