Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 2:25
For apart from Him, who can eat and who can find enjoyment?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses his audience while concluding his examination of pleasure, wisdom, and labor in Ecclesiastes 2. He declares that eating and finding enjoyment are only possible through God's provision.
The words — The phrase חוּץ מִמֶּנִּי (chutz mimmenni) literally means "outside from me," directly modifying the rhetorical question who will eat (יֹאכַל) and who will enjoy (יָח֖וּשׁ).
The thread — The verse resolves the futile pleasure-testing of Ecclesiastes 2:1 and precedes Ecclesiastes 2:26, which contrasts God-given joy with the sinner's futile accumulation. The geographical scope of Solomon's reign in 1 Kings 4:21 provides no thematic link to this passage.
Why it lands — The text states that human capacity to eat and find enjoyment depends entirely on God's presence. The reader must conclude that pleasure is a received provision rather than a self-directed pursuit.
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 who can eat, or who else can hasten hereunto, more than I?
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good!” But it proved to be futile.
- 1 Kings 4:21 And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.