Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 2:23
Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses an unnamed audience while concluding his examination of wisdom and achievement in Ecclesiastes 2. He speaks at the precise moment after asking what a person gains from all their toil under the sun.
The words — The Hebrew מַכְאֹבִים (makh'ovim) translates literally to "pains" or "grief," and עִנְיָנוֹ (inyanu) means "his task" or "his occupation." These terms establish the verse's factual claim that labor produces sorrow and prevents mental rest.
The thread — The observation that human life is inherently burdened with trouble and sleepless anxiety appears in Job 14:1, Job 5:7, and Job 7:13. These passages collectively document the biblical pattern of mortal labor intersecting with unavoidable distress.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to acknowledge that autonomous striving yields only exhaustion and unrest. It demands an honest assessment of whether one's work serves a purpose beyond temporary relief.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
Cross-references
- Job 14:1 “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
- Job 5:7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
- Job 7:13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
- Psalms 6:6 I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- Psalms 127:2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat—for He gives sleep to His beloved.
- Genesis 47:9 “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
- Esther 6:1 That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.
- Psalms 32:4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah
- Psalms 77:2 In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Psalms 90:7 For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.