传道书 2:11

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

然後，我省察我手所作的一切，和我勞碌所成就的，想不到一切都是虛空，都是捕風，在日光之下毫無益處。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
後 来 ， 我 察 看 我 手 所 经 营 的 一 切 事 和 我 劳 碌 所 成 的 功 。 谁 知 都 是 虚 空 ， 都 是 捕 风 ； 在 日 光 之 下 毫 无 益 处 。

Contextual Overview

¹ I said to myself, "I will try having fun. I will enjoy myself." But I found that this is also useless. ² It is foolish to laugh all the time, and having fun doesn't accomplish anything. ³ I decided to cheer myself up with wine while my mind was still thinking wisely. I wanted to find a way to enjoy myself and see what was good for people to do during their few days of life. ⁴ Then I did great things: I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. ⁵ I made gardens and parks, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made pools of water for myself and used them to water my growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and slaves were also born in my house. I had large herds and flocks, more than anyone in Jerusalem had ever had before. ⁸ I also gathered silver and gold for myself, treasures from kings and other areas. I had male and female singers and all the women a man could ever want. ⁹ I became very famous, even greater than anyone who had lived in Jerusalem before me. My wisdom helped me in all this. ¹⁰ Anything I saw and wanted, I got for myself; I did not miss any pleasure I desired. I was pleased with everything I did, and this pleasure was the reward for all my hard work.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I looked: Ecclesiastes 1:14, Genesis 1:31, Exodus 39:43, 1 John 2:16, 1 John 2:17

behold: Ecclesiastes 2:17-23, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 1:14, Habakkuk 2:13, 1 Timothy 6:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:17 - cursed 2 Chronicles 7:11 - all that came Psalms 39:5 - verily Psalms 119:96 - I have seen Proverbs 14:13 - General Proverbs 15:16 - great Proverbs 27:20 - so Ecclesiastes 1:2 - General Ecclesiastes 1:8 - full Ecclesiastes 1:17 - I perceived Ecclesiastes 3:9 - General Ecclesiastes 3:22 - nothing Ecclesiastes 4:16 - this Ecclesiastes 5:10 - this Ecclesiastes 6:9 - this Jeremiah 2:13 - broken cisterns

Cross-References

Genesis 10:7
The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

Genesis 10:29
Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these people were the sons of Joktan.

Genesis 25:18
His descendants lived from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt stretching toward Assyria. They often attacked the descendants of his brothers.

1 Samuel 15:7
Then Saul defeated the Amalekites. He fought them all the way from Havilah to Shur, at the border of Egypt.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do,.... He had looked at them, and on them, over and over again, and had taken pleasure therein; but now he sits down and enters into a serious consideration of them, what prodigious expenses he had been at; what care and thought, what toil and labour of mind, he had taken in contriving, designing, and bringing these works to perfection; what pleasure and delight he had found in them, and what happiness upon the whole arose from them: he now passes his judgment, and gives his sentiments concerning these things, having had it in his power to make himself master of everything delightful, which he did; was a competent judge, and thoroughly qualified to give a just estimate of matters; and it is as follows;

and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit; nothing solid and substantial in the whole; no true pleasure and real joy, and no satisfaction or happiness in that pleasure; these pleasing things perished with the using, and the pleasure of them faded and died in the enjoyment of them; and instead of yielding solid delight, only proved vexations, because the pleasure was so soon over, and left a thirst for more, and what was not to be had; at most and best, only the outward senses were fed, the mind not at all improved, nor the heart made better, and much less contented; it was only pleasing the fancy and imagination, and feeding on wind;

and [there was] no profit under the sun; by those things; to improve and satisfy the mind of man, to raise him to true happiness, to be of any service to him in the hour of death, or fit him for an eternal world. Alshech interprets the labour mentioned in this text of the labour of the law, which brings no reward to a man in this world.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 2:11. And, behold, all was vanity — Emptiness and insufficiency in itself.

And vexation of spirit — Because it promised the good I wished for, but did not, could not, perform the promise; and left my soul discontented and chagrined.