Bible verse

Ecclesiastes 2:17

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:17 · BSB

Ecclesiastes 2:17 in context

The verses around it, from Ecclesiastes 2.

13 And I saw that wisdom exceeds folly, just as light exceeds darkness:

14 The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.

15 So I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will also befall me. What then have I gained by being wise?” And I said to myself that this too is futile.

16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

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.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 2

Ecclesiastes 2:17 in other translations

KJV

Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun [is] grievous unto me: for all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.

ASV

So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

ERV

So I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me: for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.