Banchory Christian Fellowship Church
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
Ecclesiastes 2:12-26
English Standard Version Anglicised
The Vanity of Living Wisely
12 So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. 13 Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness. 14 The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. 15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
The Vanity of Toil
18 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, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labours under the sun, 21 because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? 23 For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Footnotes
3rd Sept 2023 - ”Jesus Christ, One With Us” - Matthew 3:13-17
27th August 2023 - ”GOD KEEPS HIS WORD” - Exodus 12:29-51
20th August 2023 - ”Jesus Comes To Restore” - John 3:16-18
13th August 2023 - ”Finding Refuge With The King” - Psalm 16
6th August 2023 - ”Peter’s Denial & Restoration” - John 18:15-27 & 21:15-19
30th July 2023 - ”Peter’s Call & Confession” - Luke 5:1-11 & 9:18-20
23rd July 2023 - ”From Glory to Glory via Suffering” - Matthew 17:1-13
16th July 2023 - ”LORD OVER SICKNESS & DEATH” - Mark 5:21-43
9th July 2023 - ”Jesus the Great Restorer” - Mark 5:1-20
2nd July 2023 - ”God’s Unbreakable Promise” - Jeremiah 33:14-26
25th June 2023 - ”The Saving Power of the Lamb” - Exodus 12:1-32
18th June 2023 - ”God’s Word or God’s Judgement” - Exodus 10:21 - 11:10
11th June 2023 - ”None Like Him” - Exodus 9
4th June 2023 - ”The Living God in the Lion’s Den” - Daniel 6
28th May 2023 - ”God’s Great Acts of Judgement” - Exodus 7:1-25
21st May 2023 - ”WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE?” - Exodus 5:1 - 6:13
14th May 2022 - EQUIPPING GOD’s SERVANT” - Exodus 4:18-31
7th May 2023 - ”MEET THE TRUE KING” - Hebrews 1:1-9
30th April 2023 - ”DOUBT YOURSELF NOT GOD” -- Exodus 4:1-17
23rd April 2023 - ”A WORD YOU CAN TRUST” - Psalm 119:89-104
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