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
13th November 2022 - ”REMEMBER YOUR CRETOR”- Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:14
6thNovember 2022 - ”SEEING WHAT GOD SEES” - 1 Samuel 16:1-13
30th October 2022 - ”THE KNOWN UNKNOWNS” - Ecclesiastes 11:1-8
23 October 2022 - ”Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest” - Matthew 11:25-12:14
16th October 2022 - ”WHEN FOOLS REIGN” - Ecclesiastes 9:13-10:20
9th October 2022 - ”FINDING HOPE IN LIFE” - Ecclesiastes 9:1-12
2nd October 2022 - ”God Helps the Helpless” - 1 Samuel 7:2-13
25th September 2022 - ”Be Wise: Life is Complicated” - Ecclesiastes 8:1-17
18th September 2022 - ”WHY LIFE DOESN’T MAKE SENSE” - Ecclesiastes 7:13-29
11th Sept 2022 - ”THE WAY OF THE WISE” - Ecclesiastes 7:1-12
4th September 2022 - ”Weakness Equals Strength” - Judges 7
28th August 2022 - ”Money Matters” - Ecclesiastes 5-6
21st August 2022 - ”Who Opens Blind Eyes?” - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
14th August 2022 - ”WHO OPENS BLIND EYES?” - John 9
7th August 2022 - ”WHO FEEDS THE HUNGRY?” - John 6:1-21
31st July 2022 - ”God’s Blessing Promised” - Haggai 2:10-23
24th July 2022 - ”God’s Building Plan” - Haggai 1:1-2:9
17th July 2022 - ”WHEN THE FOUNDATIONS ARE CRUMBLING” - Psalm 11
10th July 2022 - ”WHO SPEAKS WITH WORDS OF POWER?” - John 4:46 - 5:18
3rd July 2022 - ”WHO TURNS WATER INTO WINE?” - John 2:1-11
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