Ecclesiastes 2:20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

Business is a thing that wise men have pleasure in. They are in their element when they are in their business, and complain if they be out of business. They may sometimes be tired with their business, but they are not weary of it, nor willing to leave it off. Here therefore one would expect to have found the good that men should do, but Solomon tried this too; after a contemplative life and a voluptuous life, he betook himself to an active life, and found no more satisfaction in it than in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:20

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair ,.... Of ever finding happiness in anything here below. He "turned about" F25 וסבותי "versus sum", Montanus; "et ego verti me", Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus. , as the word signifies dropped his severe studies of wisdom, and his eager pursuits of pleasure; and desisted from those toilsome works, in which he had employed himself; and went from one thing to another, and settled and stuck at nothing, on purpose to relax his mind, as the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:20

I went about to cause my heart to despair - What makes all worse, there is no remedy. It is impossible in the present state of things to prevent these evils. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:12-26

Section 3. Vanity of wisdom, in view of the fate that awaits the wise man equally with the fool, and the uncertainty of the future of his labors, especially as man is not master of his own fate. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:20

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair ; ἐπέστρεψα ἐγὼ . "I turned" in order to examine more closely. So in Ecclesiastes 2:12 we had, "I turned myself," though the verbs are not the same in the two passages, and in the former the LXX . has ἐπέβλεψα . I turned from my late course of action to give myself up to despair. I lost all hope in labor; it had no longer any charm or future for me. Septuagint, τοῦ ἀποτάξασθαι τὴν καρδίαν μου ἐν παντὶ μόχθῳ μου κ ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:12-26

Solomon having found that wisdom and folly agree in being subject to vanity, now contrasts one with the other Ecclesiastes 2:13. Both are brought under vanity by events Ecclesiastes 2:14 which come on the wise man and the feel alike from without - death and oblivion Ecclesiastes 2:16, uncertainty Ecclesiastes 2:19, disappointment Ecclesiastes 2:21 - all happening by an external law beyond human control. Amidst this vanity, the good (see Ecclesiastes 2:10 note) that accrues to man, is the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ecclesiastes 2:20-21

Ecclesiastes 2:20-21 . I went to cause my heart to despair I gave myself up to despair of ever reaping that satisfaction which I promised to myself. For there is a man whose labour, &c. Who uses great industry, and prudence, and justice too, in the management of his affairs; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion A portion which he will probably consume upon his lusts. This also is a great evil A great disorder in itself, and a great torment... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:1-26

Lessons from experience (1:12-2:26)Writing as Solomon, the author now looks back and describes the experiences of a truly wise and wealthy man who searched for a meaning to life. First he tried the study of wisdom, but it led only to misery and frustration. Some things could not be made to fit any sort of consistent pattern; others, which in theory may have solved some problems, in practice did not exist (12-15). His learning and experience enabled him to tell the difference between wisdom and... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Ecclesiastes 2:20

took = toiled. Some codices, with two early printed editions, add wherein I had acted wisely read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:20-21

Ecclesiastes 2:20-21. Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair, &c.— And I considered every way, so that my heart despaired of ever gaining any sort of advantage from all the trouble that I took under the sun; Ecclesiastes 2:21. Since a man who labours wisely, knowingly, and successfully, must nevertheless leave his share to another man who did not join in the labour. read more

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